


American Royals

by MimicMariana (LaEmperatrizMariana)



Series: ☆ It's "Unova" like "Universe" ☆ [2]
Category: Pocket Monsters: Black & White | Pokemon Black and White Versions
Genre: Assassination Mention, Bending (Avatar), Bilingual Character(s), Explicit Language, Gen, Language Barrier, Medicinal Drug Use, Monarchy Mention, Moth Kink Mention, NSFW Art Mention, News Media, Online Shopping, Social Media, Talking Pokemon, Tax Mention, death mention
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-23
Updated: 2019-09-23
Packaged: 2020-10-25 14:55:28
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 20,515
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20726063
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LaEmperatrizMariana/pseuds/MimicMariana
Summary: The sequel that nobody else asked for, but me and my friend wanted it anyway.A series of events that loosely describe the media's involvement when it comes to whining about pokémon liberation. Ghetsis has been doing this for 25 years, and now it's N's turn to be in the spotlight. (Although, certain actions may seem out of character at a glance, you cannot deny that an American citizen wouldn't hesitate to do such a thing in that particular situation.)





	1. Fading Tranquility

**Author's Note:**

> This story is set sometime in late 2011. But that's because I believe that the games are set in the year they're released, even though the games themselves have a bit of a timeless feel. I just thought mentioning years in this story makes it more tangible.
> 
> I also tried to read the B&W manga and got annoyed that they had TV shows but nobody reporting Ghetsis' speeches. I don't care if people were disturbed that this man "gave speeches" but surely someone was out there recording them to at least call him out on his "lies". From my annoyance, this story was born. It doesn't have much of a plot, since my focus was on the news and social media. I also greatly enjoy the irony of having "morally gray" characters in a series that's called "Black and White".
> 
> This story really didn't need to be rated "M" but I feel there's some themes here that are not suitable for younger readers. This story also has explicit language, for the sake of "realism".

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> King Natural has his first public speech, just when everything seems to be going according to plan, he realizes his father isn't there among the Sages and he panics. Fortunately, Reshiram is there to help him.

Six of the Seven Sages got up on the stage, in front of the capitol building. Their outspoken, charismatic leader — Lord Ghetsis Harmonia, had suddenly become too ill and refused to take the stage alongside them. As originally planned, their King, N, arrived at the outdoor stage flying on top of his legendary dragon, Reshiram, just as Lord Ghetsis, his father, had instructed him earlier. Ghetsis told N that first impressions were the only thing that really mattered. (What better way to impress and terrify your subjects than to present yourself riding a terrifying legendary dragon onto the stage.)

N approached the podium and pulled out the napkins where his father had written his speech. Unfortunately, N’s hands got sweaty that they smeared the ink but that wasn’t a problem. N had been practicing the speech the day before and most of the morning. He turned around to look at the Seven Sages and noticed that his father wasn’t there. And that’s when the panic attack hit him and he forgot the speech. Since the napkins were smudged, N had nothing.

Sensing his fear, Reshiram whispered, “Don’t worry, I’m here to help, just like I’ve helped all the other Heroes of Truth, including with their speeches. Besides, you’re the only human here who can hear me. Start off as you planned and we’ll figure it out from there.”

N cleared his throat and said, “Today, ladies and gentlemen, I would like to enlighten you on the subject of pokémon liberation and why it will be one of the several issues that I will focus on in my tenure as King of Unova.” N paused and repeated what Reshiram told him, word for word. “As you may know, I am aware that this subject is inherently controversial. Our world and modern culture rely heavily on the use of pokémon, but this is what I find troubling — the ‘use’. You see, pokémon are living creatures, not tools to be ‘used’. Thinking of them as tools, belittles their relationship with us because at this point, we are no longer equals.”

The Sages clapped politely, as did the rest of the audience, taking their cue. N smiled at the camera, relieved that his opening statement went well, at least that’s what he thought. The truth was that N was unlike his father. When Lord Ghetsis got up on stage, his charm and charisma captivated the audience and even for that moment, everyone agreed with him allowing themselves to get caught up by his Team Plasma propaganda. N, however, had no such charm or charisma. Instead, he had a dark and menacing aura, and him looking directly at the camera was nothing short of intimidating. The audience clapped, not because they agreed with his messages, but from fearing that something terrible would happen if they dared to disagree.

Continuing, N said, “I plead with you to put yourselves in a wild pokémon’s metaphorical shoes. Any pokémon that you wish, or better yet, one that you’ve recently ‘caught’. Imagine that you’re minding your own business in the grass, when suddenly a wild human jumps out at you and summons their pokémon. The pokémon is much more powerful than you, probably has no intention of hurting you and yet, it is compelled to follow the will of its master and attacks you. You are weak to its moves and too tired to run. It is then that the human throws one of these devices at you.” N pulled out a pokéball. “If this button hits you, you are absorbed into it. Obviously, you’ve not fainted and value your freedom. You wonder about what will happen if this human takes you away from your home. You know in your heart that you will never see your family and loved ones ever again. This hope gives you the energy to escape, but the human attempts to catch you once more. If you are lucky, you find your freedom. If you’re not, well then, ladies and gentlemen…” N chuckled. “When was the last time you’ve visited the location where you caught your ‘beloved’ pokémon? Something to think about, yes?”

Meanwhile, Ghetsis sat just inside the building, accompanied by both his daughters and a couple of grunts. One of the Shadows, from the Shadow Triad, suddenly appeared next to Ghetsis. He was holding a small brown paper bag and pulled out a small box containing 20 ibuprofen tablets from out of the bag. Ghetsis frowned but accepted the medicine. He told his fellow teammates that he suddenly developed a massive headache and was unable to take the stage with N and the other sages. The truth was that he had become overwhelmed with emotion that he had begun to weep. Concerned because he could not maintain his calm cool demeanor, he lied and told everyone that he was ill. However, he wasn’t expecting to see a Shadow to go out and buy medicine for him. 

Feeling guilty for having lied, Ghetsis told the Shadow, “Thank you.”

One of the grunts pulled out an unopened bottle of Fresh Water and handed to him. While the stress of processing emotions he hadn’t felt in years was causing his headache, Ghetsis felt it didn’t warrant any pharmaceutical intervention. But to save face, he opened the box and took a single tablet.

The Shadow took out a hacked pokédex and scanned Ghetsis in front of his daughters and the grunts. Concerned, one of the female grunts asked, “What are you doing?”

“Just checking up on Lord Ghetsis,” replied the Shadow. “Because he has personally trained himself and knows pokémon moves, I can get his readings on here. Most people can only learn two moves at most, Lord Ghetsis knows over thirty. Huh…interesting. Sir, you seem to have _ forgotten _ several moves. Perhaps that’s why you’re unwell. It takes so much physical and mental strength to learn a single move. Tell me, what happened in your journey.”

Ghetsis’ eyes widened and he glared at the Shadow. Realizing he was unable to lie, Ghetsis said, “I was helping a gentleman from Kanto named ‘Giovanni’ research these powerful pokémon called ‘Ultra Beasts’. When I wasn’t researching, I was decorating my room and composing music with my laptop.” He couldn’t bear to tell them that he lost a pokémon battle against a child. Even_ thinking _ about it worsened his headache and made him feel more feverish. “Then, I overheard the commotion an intruder enter the castle and I was forced to battle him, to defend our base since my other teammates had failed. You wouldn’t believe who it was.”

“It’s someone we know?!” gasped Anthea.

“Yes, it was that ‘doctor’, Colress,” replied Ghetsis, who then took another sip of Fresh Water. “He said he despised me and then blasted me with some sort of laser. No idea what happened next, since my body felt as it was being pulled apart but I woke up back in the yard.”

“That’s…no! This is terrible!” said Concordia, who was beginning to regret calling Colress. Because a person who despised her father and was hostile to him was not to be tolerated. At the same time, she couldn’t believe what she was hearing. It seemed like Colress was enjoying himself at the castle and getting along well with everyone, even though he still kept to himself.

“What if the Colress from that world was just an asshole…I mean…” interrupted a male grunt who went pale because Ghetsis had little to no tolerance towards cursing.

“Impossible,” said Ghetsis. “Giovanni said that we all have similar values. Therefore, it’s safe to assume we all behave the same way no matter what world we’re from. So, Colress is not a man to be trusted. He does not care for what Team Plasma represents. I think N made him sign a one-year contract with us. But so many things can happen in a year. That’s another thing I discovered over there…their N. That boy…he rejected and destroyed everything I worked so hard to achieve.”

The Shadow facepalmed, but he was standing on Ghetsis’ right side and his reaction went unnoticed by his leader. To the Shadow, what had happened to Ghetsis in Alola became crystal clear; his boss had gone to a dark, edgy universe where everything had gone terribly wrong. As everyone in Team Plasma knew, Lord Ghetsis was an empathetic, compassionate, and generous man. Whatever he experienced in Alola shocked him to the point it traumatized him, that it _ had _ to be the reason for his sudden personality change.

The truth was that the Shadow’s assumption was halfway correct. What happened in Alola did upset Ghetsis, but it wasn’t the humiliating defeat against a child. It was that he hacked into the castle’s secure Wi-Fi with his laptop and looked up what his regular-verse self was doing. It was there that he learned of that Ghetsis’ defeat, how everyone else proved that their love to him was as equally shallow as the love he had for them, and that N let his parts do the thinking; allowing himself to be seduced by a trainer that ruined everything. What’s more, that the other Ghetsis tried to reform Team Plasma and hired Colress, who ended up destroying the team with his “leadership”. This was all worsened because Ghetsis could no longer maintain his composure. He felt his emotions so strongly that he was always brought to tears and begun to fear going mad, just like the other Ghetsis.

“N would never do that,” said Anthea. “Father, you of all people, should know this. He adores you and trusts you completely, which makes me worry about this speech. He’s out there and you're here.”

“Anthea!” hissed the Shadow. “Your father is ill, don’t guilt him for wanting to rest. I’m sure the speech is going great. The other Shadows have been sending me messages, telling me that he’s going a good job, and that they believe Reshiram is helping. Reshiram is purring.” He showed Anthea the messages, before showing them to the others.

Ghetsis got up and walked towards the stage, as the others followed him. 

He stopped just before he could be seen on camera, but where he stood, he heard N clearly. His headache diminished, but his tears began to overflow.

“...As an executive order, Repels will be free of charge,” said N. “That way, there is no longer a ‘need’ to have a pokémon for ‘protection’ when you are traveling around the countryside. They will be made available at all shops and Pokécenters. I have more changes in mind, but first I must consult my advisers and the current budget to see what can be done next. Thank you all so much for listening and I hope you all have a blessed evening.” 

N smiled at Reshiram and returned him to his pokéball, before grabbing his notes and heading back inside. When he turned around, he saw his Father standing in the distance. Overjoyed, his fears went away and N quickly inside, followed by the six sages. Excited, N ran to hug his father. Ghetsis reciprocated, but felt that the hug made him cry even more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>   * Recap from the previous fic, "[Get Sick](https://archiveofourown.org/works/20324326/chapters/48187042)", Ghetsis traveled through the Ultra Wormholes and suffered minor memory loss. But it was just enough for him to unlearn some of the various pokémon moves he learned over the years. Yes, this Ghetsis can personally battle pokémon himself and should be considered very dangerous.
>   * Poor Colress getting blamed for the actions of another Colress. I had always wondered about this. I assumed that RR!Ghetsis' Colress was pretty much destined to be guillotined American-style as soon as Ghetsis got back but my friend likes him, so this Colress is safe for now. (Seriously, am I the only one who worries for the canon RR!Ghetsis' Colress? This is why I didn’t like that whole fan-servicey exchange in USUM. :/)
>   * Also, keep in mind that this Ghetsis' kind façade was never blown. No one has discovered his treachery and he must continue to keep it up. However, now he is filled with immense guilt and remorse. This is why he cries. (My friend said that I shouldn't be happy about a cute long-haired 2D bishie, like Ghetsis, having trauma.)
>   * If you've never been sad because your parent/guardian wasn't there at your recital, then IDK if this chapter was as relatable as I had hoped. It was relatable to me.


	2. Both Beast and Man

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The entire family, including Colress, enjoy dinner after N's big speech. Ghetsis is still sad.

King N’s speech was broadcast locally and internationally. Despite everyone in Team Plasma telling N he did an excellent job, his speech had mixed reviews from the public. While some people praised King N, others reviled him, but everyone couldn’t help but feel threatened by King N’s menacing aura. It was not N’s intention to intimidate anyone, but he did do that whenever he was scared. However, N rarely made public appearances while growing up, so the public didn’t know him for who he was as a person. (To be fair, they also didn’t know his father very well at all, despite being so public and outgoing.)

That evening, all the sages joined King N and his sisters for dinner. While they had plans to celebrate the success of the speech, they decided to postpone the celebration. N was relieved because his first public appearance and speech had stressed him out. 

At the dinner table, Concordia pulled out a master ball and summoned her brand-new pokémon – an extra small Rowlet. However, the Rowlet refused to sit on her lap, and instead flew over towards her father and landed on his right shoulder, inside his chest-plating. Ghetsis flinched when he felt the Rowlet land, but recognizing her, he said, “Concordia, what did I say about pokémon at the dinner table?”

Before Concordia had a chance to reply, Colress interrupted, “Is that a Rowlet?!”

“Yes,” replied Ghetsis icily. “I caught her when I went to Alola. She had flown into my room and landed on my shoulder just like this. Good thing I brought extra pokéballs along and caught her. I was told by my colleagues there that Rowlets are rare.”

“Sir, of course they’re rare,” replied Colress. “They’re the grass-type starter from Alola…”

“What?!” gasped Ghetsis.

“They’re Alola’s version of Snivy,” said Colress. “But just like other starters, the females are especially rare.”

“They…they told me she was a pseudo-legendary!” said Ghetsis, whose eyes started to water because he was hurt that others would lie to him.

Colress pulled out his pokédex, looked for the Rowlet entry, and handed it to Ghetsis for him to see. Ghetsis read its entry, as well as the evolutions. “So you’ve been to Alola?”

“Yes,” replied Colress. “I have a cousin who lives there with her two children. I’d visit them more often, if the trip there weren’t so expensive. Not sure if I can update pokédexes, so everyone here can log Rowlet, but I can try.”

Ghetsis tucked his hands inside his robes and pulled out an old pokédex. It was a thick, worn, pokédex that was at least 20 years old. It was very similar to the original Kanto pokédex. Ghetsis had written his name on it with permanent marker, several times over, as the writing faded. On the top left it had the inscription, “Beta Test Version”. Colress opened it to see that the actual pokédex inside was quite modern since it was a quarter of the size of the “cover”. There was also a notepad inside filled with hand-written notes, which Ghetsis kept in there, so the smaller pokédex wouldn’t move around so much in the case.

“You were a beta-tester?” asked Colress, as he attempted to update the pokédex.

“Yes,” replied Ghetsis, “Professor _ Cedric _ Juniper asked me to beta-test this pokédex for the Unova region back in the late 1980s. The original had come from Kanto. Professor Juniper said his friend from there, Professor Samuel Oak, sent him several to test here. I wasn’t sure whether or not to accept his offer. It felt as if he wanted to discourage my activism. However, I decided to try my best and fill it out. I did a lot of catch and release. About the original, it worked up until 2006 and I had to get it replaced. Luckily, the data was salvaged.” 

As Colress continued to work, N, who was seated at Ghetsis’ right hand, was quietly whispering to the Rowlet. He had assumed the worst, especially since the Rowlet was taken to another world and into foreign region. However, he couldn’t blame his father; the Rowlet was very cute. Fortunately, the Rowlet seemed calm by it all.

She said to N, “I had escaped from my cage because I was eager to find a new trainer. It was a foolish mistake because these past few weeks were difficult. Then, I happened to fly by this strange eerie building and saw a window open. This man was inside, looking at a screen. He had some food on the table. I tried to approach him, thinking that perhaps he’d show me some compassion and give me something to eat. He looks friendly. He divided the food and let me have a small amount. I thought he was being stingy, but the food was already reserved for his powerful and intimidating pokémon.”

“This man is my father,” replied N.

“He is nice, and you are lucky to have him,” replied the Rowlet. “I’m just sad that he gave me to that girl. I wanted to be with him instead, because he reminds me of my sire.”

“My sister only has two pokémon, and she doesn’t go out much, anyway,” replied N. “I also don’t know if you’d want to be with my father anyway. His pokémon are like a clique – a tough guys only clique.”

“I see…,” said the Rowlet, who flew off and returned to Concordia.

At that time, Colress’ eyes sparkled with delight. He successfully updated Ghetsis’ pokédex. He returned the pokédex to Ghetsis. Ghetsis smiled nervously and showed the Rowlet entry to everyone else at the table, before putting it away.

Sage Gorm asked Colress for his pokédex. Colress handed to him without hesitation, and the sage found the Rowlet. He then looked at its evolved forms, Dartix and Decidueye. Smiling, he showed it to Ghetsis, “You look like its final form. Maybe that’s why this young Rowlet approached you. She is your new daughter!

Ghetsis sighed because he wasn’t in the mood for jokes. Mostly everyone else laughed at the table, except Colress. They chatted for a bit, before going their separate ways. 

After the children had gone to bed, the Seven Sages met in the study.

Yawning, Ghetsis said, “I might have to leave early, I’ve been more tired than usual.”

“You can leave our meeting whenever you like,” replied Sage Rood. “Sage Zinzolin has told us you’ve been unwell these past few days. With all these drastic changes our victory has brought us, we feel it is crucial for us to monitor the situation from here, at the castle.”

Noticing Ghetsis’ left eye twitch from the surprise, Sage Gorm added, “We understand that we were assigned to monitor our respective cities but you need us here more than ever.”

“Yes, a combination of sudden illness and responsibility for both Team Plasma and the nation, is too much for you and King N to handle by yourselves,” said Sage Giallo. “Lord Ghetsis, I’m not implying that you’re weak. I’m simply saying that this is just too much to handle, but with all of us here, we’ll all lend you our strength and our support.”

“I…,” Ghetsis gasped and covered his face as his sages surrounded him. “…don’t deserve any of this.” Overwhelmed by guilt because he had become cold towards all his sages, who were also his longtime friends, Ghetsis began to weep bitterly in front of them. He wanted to run away but his legs were too weak, that he had no choice but to stay seated at table.

Sage Zinzolin, who sat at Lord Ghetsis’ right side pulled out a packet of tissues and handed them to Ghetsis. He reached over and stroked Ghetsis’ head. Ghetsis blew his nose, humiliated that he started crying again and feeling absolutely terrible for being a manipulative asshole to his friends.

Sage Gorm signalled to Sage Zinzolin to escort Lord Ghetsis to his bedchamber. Their leader needed to rest. Sage Zinzolin and Sage Bronius helped Ghetsis get up and took him to his room, which was not too far from the study.

As soon as they left, Sage Ryoku said, “What _ exactly _ happened? I saw Vio’s group message that Geechisu-sama had gotten sick with the flu, and then that he was teleported to an alternate world but was taken that world's Alola. He mentioned wormholes too. I only believe it because I saw that Alolan Grass Hoothoot they brought out.”

“Yes, that is correct,” replied Sage Rood. “But we'll have to wait for Sage Zinzolin to return. Sage Zinzolin told me it was a difficult message to send us because Lord Ghetsis felt this was too private for anyone else to know. But that sounds like just about _ everything _. Remember when N ran away after the funeral? We had to pry all that information out of him, just so we could help find N.”

“Shit…if Lord Ghetsis keeps bottling up his problems like that, he’s gonna explode,” said Sage Giallo.

“He already did,” said Sage Gorm. “That’s why he’s been crying so much. Still, better for him to release his stress through crying, than to turn into some homicidal maniac. I still don’t understand why he feels the need to hide his true feelings from us.” 

“You forget that he’s an aristocratic nobleman,” said Sage Ryoku. “Nobility have certain social rules to follow that us commoners do not. This includes constantly having a neutral expression.”

“Huh…,” replied Sage Giallo. “I thought Ghetsis had become more ‘neutral’ because he learned too many moves. I heard that the change happens after the 10th move because it starts affecting your mind. The most obvious symptom is being emotionless. This is why I stopped training when I heard about this. But Ghetsis…he kept going.”

“Wait…Giallo…” interrupted Sage Ryoku. “…Are you suggesting that he’s been cold towards us this entire time?” 

“Yes,” said Sage Giallo. “The faces he’s been making these past two days. Those are faces I’ve not seen him make in years. I personally think this is a good thing, but we must keep an eye on him.”

“Ah…” replied Sage Rood, “I agree. This does sound like this ‘Ultra Wormhole’ travel affected him positively. It seems he likely forgot some moves and abilities, and it’s ‘un-cursed’ him. It’s a reasonable conclusion, since the way he’s been crying comes off as he’s overwhelmed by almost _ everything _.”

“The more reason we should stay here and help him,” said Sage Gorm. “We owe it to him, after all the times he’s come to our aid. Now it’s our turn to finally repay him.”

The sages continued to discuss their plans to help their leaders, until Sage Zinzolin and Sage Bronius arrived. Although the conversation turned awkward when Sage Bronius told the others that he had given Lord Ghetsis a goodnight kiss, after he saw Sage Zinzolin kiss him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>   * I had initially considered that this story have a sub-plot titled “The Rowlet Effect” where the universes got screwed up all because Ghetsis caught the Rowlet. But then I thought, it was better if this possibility was ignored because the poor little Rowlet did nothing wrong and she just wanted to be with a loving family.
>   * You cannot convince me that these sages were _**not**_ in love with Ghetsis in some way (in canon). For the most part, they all seemed blindly loyal and entranced by him. Practically venerating him as some sort of great saint.
>   * The funeral that is mentioned, was for N’s mom/Ghetsis’ wife. Basically, N ran away from home because he made up his mind to “dig her out” since he was convinced she was alive and “abandoned in the field”. He was about 4 years old and spent almost a week out in the forest. Ghetsis was devastated with all that occurred, including his young son running away, that he was unable to personally search for him until later in the week. In the meantime, the Zoroarks were casting illusions, preventing the grunts and others from finding N sooner.


	3. A Late Night Chat

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Colress stays up late to talk to his Alolan relative.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I mention only Colress' white van, but in the previous fic, it's stated that Colress used to pretty much work and live out of his van. Now that he's been hired by N and Team Plasma, he has more room to do his research.

While the sages were discussing what to do in regards to Lord Ghetsis’ well-being, Colress had made himself at home in his room on the first floor. As for his white van, it was accommodated in the garage due to his extended stay thanks to the contract. Colress took a tiny sip of his energy drink and turned on his laptop, which was now connected to the big screen TV in the room.

Colress made an attempt to video chat with his Alolan relative. He had told her yesterday that he was going to make an attempt today and gave her the specified time. As he was getting everything set up, Colress felt guilt for lying that his cousin was female. The truth was, that his cousin was male but he disappeared a few years ago. Only his wife and their two children remained. Colress didn’t feel comfortable telling Team Plasma about his loss. His older cousin was like a brother to him, and Colress loved him as deeply as he admired him. (This cousin was the reason Colress wanted to study pokémon, because his cousin was a pokémon researcher.) It was much easier to explain to others that his cousin’s widow was his cousin.

Fortunately, his cousin’s wife quickly answered the call. She was a very delicate slim, pale, blond woman. At a glance, she could easily pass as Colress’ cousin since they looked alike. She seemed as excited to see Colress as he was to see her.

“Colress!” she cried.

“Lusamine!” replied Colress, whose blue cowlick flicked with excitement. “How are you?”

“Just busy, but alright,” giggled Lusamine.

Colress’ excited expression suddenly turned serious. “Alright? Are you _ sure _ about that? I know that look, something is bothering you.”

“No, everything is fine,” said Lusamine.

“Even the kids?” asked Colress.

“Yes,” replied Lusamine, as her voice cracked a little. It was then that she realized that she was unable to lie to Colress. Something about his deep cold stare always got to her. “It’s your voice, your Unovan accent. It reminds me of _ him _.”

Colress closed his eyes and sighed. “We’re both from here, Unova, I mean. I guess there’s not a lot of Unovans living over there in Alola. I think about him a lot too, but it doesn’t hurt as much as it used to.”

“That’s nice to hear, at least you’ve found some peace,” smiled Lusamine. “I wish I could say the same for myself and the kids. Lillie has nightmares about what happened to him, and Gladion – I fear the worst for him. His sadness seems to be turning into anger. He won’t listen to me anymore. I have to raise my voice at him, just so he could listen, and I don’t like doing that. He had tried to run away a few weeks ago, but we found him the next day. Since Gladion doesn’t want to tell me anything, I got Wicke to talk to him. She told me that Gladion left to look for his father. I wanted to cry when I heard that. I did cry, in private, later.”

Colress felt a tear running down his cheek and replied, “…That sounds like the kind of thing Mohn would’ve done, if he had been in Gladion’s position. Unovan men just think like this. They feel it’s their duty to solve their family’s problems and protect them without the rest of the family knowing about it. This breaks my heart! Gladion is like what…? Nine, ten, eleven? He shouldn’t feel like he’s now the man of the house. He’s _ still a child _ and has no reason to place this obligation onto himself. I know it’s crazy, but that’s how Unovan males think! I really wish I could back out of this contract, just so I could travel there this instant and counsel him. We could chat like how we’re doing here, but this talk really needs to be said in person, man-to-man, so to speak.”

“I understand,” said Lusamine. “I wanted to tell you sooner, but your freelance schedule is so unpredictable, I didn’t want you to worry. I know how much you like to devote yourself completely to your studies. But now that you tell me, I definitely don’t want you to get all riled up with your Unovan male instincts and come rushing over here, tripping, just so you can help us.”

“Heh…” chuckled Colress, blushing because Lusamine described exactly what was happening to him. He was actually past the point of being riled up, but the energy drink shot was mostly to blame.

Lusamine took a deep breath and tried to think about what she wanted to say. It was difficult for her to hold her tongue. But the stubbornness and impulsiveness was what drew her to her husband. She had gone abroad and studied in Unova and it was here that she discovered that she had a weakness for Unovan men. Apparently, the more hard-headed and rash they were, the more good-looking they were. Even though she had no interest in Colress, because he was too young and she had grown to love him as her little brother, she worried about him, since he was handsome. As a Unovan man, Colress wasn't immune to these impulses.

Finally, she found the right words and said, “I woke up extra early today to watch the Unovan king’s speech. I had seen the earlier one too and I have so many questions.” Lusamine sighed because the best she could do was change the subject.

“Ask away,” replied Colress, who also felt the change in topic was necessary. 

“You guys went from a democracy, to a what? A monarchy, a theocracy, or an oligarchy?” said Lusamine. “I have never heard of a region re-instituting the old government, much less the monarchy.”

“It’s a mix of those four, because citizens can still vote,” said Colress. “They’re the ones who voted to reinstate the monarchy. I think it was an overwhelming 78% in-favor of it. Both the popular and electoral vote.”

“Are pokémon banned too?” asked Lusamine. “That’s what it sounded like.”

“No, they just want pokémon to be liberated,” replied Colress. “You can keep pokémon, granted that there’s no Sinnoh Syndrome involved. I still don’t know what exactly they’re planning to do. It’s as if they didn’t really think they had a chance to win.”

“Who is the king?” asked Lusamine. “Is it that boy who went from preciously adorable to completely terrifying in a span of three seconds, or that hunk, who's like my age, that had no business making those sounds while he was singing.”

Colress paused for a moment, trying to remember the songs Ghetsis sang at his impromptu concert, before muttering, “…Sounds?” 

“The man sounded like he was orgasming on stage, Colress,” replied Lusamine, whose face turned red upon remembering. “There’s no other explanation for those moans.”

“It’s psychological warfare then,” replied Colress, quickly. Even though he still didn’t remember hearing Ghetsis make any moaning sounds during his performance at the concert. “To answer your question; the king is the boy; King Natural Harmonia-Gropius I.”

“Then, who is G-Cis Harmonia V?” asked Lusamine.

“The orgasm guy,” replied Colress. “He’s the boy’s father. We call him Lord Ghetsis over here. It’s wild to think that he’s the _ fifth _ Ghetsis from this royal family, but he’s the only notable one. Apparently, he’s like a decade older than you. People on the internet say the weirdest things about him, though. But it also seems like it’s just made up nonsense to discredit his activism and try to portray it as absurd as they claim he is.”

“Why is the boy the king and not the dad?” asked Lusamine.

“Because the boy talked to a pokémon,” replied Colress. “It was that dragon up on stage with him, the Reshiram.”

“Why are you Unovans like _ that _?” asked Lusamine.

Colress shrugged and Lusamine had no choice but to accept his answer. A thought occurred to Colress and said, “Listen, I remember that my cousin and you were studying ‘Ultra Wormholes’. An incident involving them occurred just a couple of days ago. From what I understood, the man involved seemed to have some of his memories erased. So I was wondering, if perhaps you could share your findings with me. If I discover anything, I’ll let you know. I know this is difficult because Mohn disappeared like this.”

“Promise me you won’t tamper with the space-time continuum,” said Lusamine, “Not that it’s possible over there in Unova, but still.”

“My interest is in what seems to be a ‘memory loss’ side-effect,” replied Colress. “The man in question had learned a lot of pokémon moves. Much more than what is considered _ reasonable _ and _ healthy _. Unlike pokémon, humans aren’t limited to a certain number of moves and abilities, and don’t normally forget what they learn. Needless to say, that this man had become a cruel monstrous freak that feels nothing for no one. He can’t reciprocate feelings like ‘love’. I picked up his lack of emotion right off the bat, but then I should know.”

“Know what?” asked Lusamine.

With a wide grin, Colress smiled at Lusamine, flashing his metallic teeth at her. Nonchalantly he said, “These aren’t crowns or fillings. I also learned too many moves and that knowledge came with a price, part of my body is deformed. Stainless steel teeth and hair that doesn’t need styling products to be manageable; all because if I knew at least 10 of these moves and abilities, I could no longer feel emotion.” Realizing that he had broken Lusamine’s heart with the revelation, Colress added, “I am a lonely man. Almost everyone who I was ever close to has forsaken me, except you and Mohn.”

“Don’t tell me you…” gasped Lusamine.

“…How could I ever focus on anything knowing that he had vanished as he did?” asked Colress. “I remember his words to me, shortly before graduating from High School. He told me to focus on my studies and save relationships for later because they’d distract. But I guess he had a change of heart when he met you. Understandable, since both of you did nothing but support each other and grow in knowledge; the exact opposite of distraction.”

“You should’ve told me how much this hurt you!” cried Lusamine. “I would’ve brought you here to Alola, so we could grieve together as family. I _ knew _ something had happened to you because you weren’t the same anymore after that.”

Flinching, Colress replied, “About the man, after he was sucked in and out of the Ultra Wormhole, he forgot some of his moves. At least, from what I’ve heard others say. It seems he’s reverting to the type of man he used to be. Don’t get me wrong, I had a rather unpleasant first impression of him; wrote him off as contemptible. But now, I see him for who had been and likely, who he always was; I like this man. It makes everyone’s adamant denial of his emotional corruption more understandable. It would’ve been tragic to lose someone with so much love for pokémon in their heart.”

“If you’re planning on doing what I think you’re going to do…do not,” replied Lusamine. “I don’t want to lose whatever is left of you.”

“I won’t,” said Colress. “I certainly wouldn’t risk forgetting all the years of hard research, I’ve poured my cold, metallic heart into. That man is very lucky. I wanted to see if I could use your research to help him recover, and perhaps apply any of the findings on myself as well. Now that I have matured, I realize cursing myself like this was a mistake.”

Lusamine paused and said, “When I get to my office, I’ll link you to our research that I’ve saved on the cloud. The link is temporary, so I’d advise you to download and save anything you can. Good luck.”

“Appreciate it,” replied Colress. Seeing that the tone had begun to shift towards a more pleasant tone. Colress continued with small talk and had a few laughs before telling Lusamine that he needed to sleep because he was exhausted.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>   * Sinnoh Syndrome = Stockholm Syndrome.
>   * Ghetsis is the fifth Harmonia Ghetsis. The only reason is because of "Gen 5" but also, something about him not being the _first_ feels appropriate for him. But then again IRL, Henry VIII wasn't the first English Henry and he's notorious...
>   * The most BS justification I could think of for Colress being in Alola is "family issues". Although, he doesn't actually travel there yet. As of this upload, I've not decided why he's been "forsaken" by almost everyone in his family. I just wanted to invent an excuse of why the canon one would despise Ghetsis, even though that in itself makes no sense to me. Here, you can safely assume it's because Ghetsis was cold towards his own loving family, which is something Colress doesn't have and he would never do because wants to have/be a part of, so badly. 
>   * As for the "moaning", I'm sure it's just Lusamine's thirst for Unovan men that's doing the talking. The concert mentioned was from the first chapter of "[Get Sick](https://archiveofourown.org/works/20324326/chapters/48187042)", where Ghetsis forgoes a proper victory speech and sings instead. This Ghetsis may've not felt much emotions when he decided to sing on stage, except for contempt. He's the type of bitter man who'd rub his victory in the faces of his enemies.
>   * After finishing "Get Sick", I decided that Colress should also be a mutant. I justified this decision based on the fact that his canonical smiles are "gentle" closed-mouth smiles (hiding the robot teeth) and the fact he's a steel-type trainer, so he can be a steel-type like his team. He's basically a cursed cyborg in this AU. Also his hair; that blue thing looks cursed as hell.
>   * My decision to make Colress and Lusamine related was a joke at first, but I like how it developed. I'm always a sucker for wholesome familial relationships.


	4. Land of Opportunists

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> N and Ghetsis appear live on a morning news television program.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is actually my favorite chapter. :3

Early the next morning, N and his father made their way to one of the local television stations in the limo. It was far too dark to be walking there at that hour. The pair was accompanied by several grunts and one of the Shadows. 

"I hope you'll be able to make it, father," said N. "Yesterday evening was nerve wracking. I freaked out when I didn’t see you standing there with the Sages."

"I'm better right now, so this shouldn’t be an issue" replied Ghetsis. "I personally find television interviews more annoying. They will make us put on makeup, but that's to reduce the shine on the skin caused by the bright lights. I don't like having substances like that on my face, but it needs to be done. Otherwise, you won't look good in front of the camera. Appearances are everything to these people."

"Do you know what they're going to ask us?" asked N. “Or at least an idea?”

"Likely about yesterday’s speech or perhaps a bit about yourself," replied Ghetsis. "The public wants to know more about their new king. As I've said before, you answer as sincerely and succinctly as possible. Besides, you've also asked me to bring Cofagrigus to help. I'm curious as to why him, in particular, and not Reshiram?"

"He once told me that he used to be a news reporter," replied N. "I figured that would help me out here. I’m going to be meeting with a news reporter, so I felt it was reasonable.”

“King N, sir, what else did he say?” asked a female grunt.

“Um…” began N, “He said that he found it strange how my great-grandfather, died within months after giving up his power and wanted to look into the matter because it was suspicious. He said he spent the day looking for evidence at our castle. When he got what he wanted, he drove back home. It was then that a car was tailgating him and another car got up next to his. He couldn’t see any of the other drivers but they kept getting closer to his car until they ran it off the road making it fall over a cliff. He remembered getting tossed around in the car and then everything went black. The next thing he knew, he had woken up as a Yamask and his car was engulfed in flames. The evidence he collected literally went up in smoke. Since then, he had wandered the area for years until he saw father. He only allowed him to catch him because he suspected that he was a Harmonia." N stopped because he didn't want to mention that the Cofagrigus thought it was hilarious that Ghetsis caught him as a Yamask with a master ball.

"I always wondered why the mask on Lord Ghetsis' Cofagrigus looked like a stylized version of a 1950s/1960s guy," said one of the male grunts to the female grunt. "This is dark."

"Well some ghost pokémon used to be people," replied the female grunt. "There's always that possibility."

"N…," said Ghetsis, "…why didn't you tell me this as soon as Cofagrigus told you his story? This man, who wanted to bring justice to our family, has been missing for decades because he was murdered. He deserves a proper burial, just like his family deserves closure.”

"Cofagrigus said his remains were ashes that have since scattered in the winds," replied N. "He also said that his 'investigative journalism' never really sat well with his family and friends. But, as a pokémon, his new lease on life is wonderful and he wouldn't give it up without a fight. Quite literally, I might add."

"Well then," chuckled Ghetsis nervously, "I hope he can help. Plus, people like to see pokémon on TV. Except in our case, he's doing his part to help us and gets to be on TV one more time, so no exploitation."

"Yeah, about that," said N, "he's a bit peeved that he can't stand next to you during the speeches. He loves the spotlight."

“I’ll try to incorporate him into future public appearances,” replied Ghetsis.

N and Ghetsis entered the station, and went straight to the dressing room. Meanwhile, their entourage went to take a seat in the audience. The Shadow, of course, slipped away and kept an eye on N and Ghetsis.

As N and Ghetsis were getting ready, Ghetsis asked a station staff, a short red-haired woman, “Excuse me, ma’am, is it alright if one of my pokémon joins us in the interview? King N said that this pokémon has always wanted to be on TV.”

She smiled and said, “Oh course. This is wonderful because when guests bring pokémon, it always increases our ratings and views. Where is this cute pokémon, so we could get them all dolled up?

Ghetsis pulled out his master ball and summoned his Cofagrigus.

The station staff lady and the others there went pale when they saw him. Cofagrigus was the most dangerous pokémon they had ever had at the station. Cofagrigus cried, further frightening the station staff. Sensing everyone’s apprehension, N said, “He said it’s okay and that he’d do his own makeup. Just leave it on that table.”

“N, ask him if he wants black coffee and a newspaper,” said Ghetsis. “He loves reading the paper while drinking his morning coffee. We got up way too early and he hasn’t had either.”

“Oh yeah, he was just about to ask,” replied N.

The staff hurried to place the makeup on the table and bring Cofagrigus his coffee and newspaper. After they stood their distance, Cofagrigus grabbed the makeup and began applying it on his own, as he opened the newspaper and took a sip of his coffee. The staff observed him with both horror and awe. One of the staff took video of him.

Oblivious to being filmed, Cofagrigus said, “My king, I can’t believe people got scared of you. You! Of all people! You're one of nicest people I've ever met! I can't…” He started to laugh, but the staff began to get more creeped out.

Meanwhile, everyone at the castle woke up early because they wanted to see N and Ghetsis on TV, and record the interview as a memento. They were going to be interviewed at 7:00 am, local time.

Fortunately, Ghetsis recognized the anchorwoman doing the interview as a Team Plasma sympathizer. He wasn’t expecting to see her, in particular, but welcomed his ally. He kept this bit of trivia to himself. After all, he had learned that total loyalty is rare and if he couldn’t trust his own family, and the friends he had for nearly 30 years, how was he to be sure the anchorwoman still sympathized with Team Plasma?

The anchorwoman's first impression of N was that he was a sweet, timid boy.

She said to Ghetsis, “The last time I saw him, he was so small.”

“Well yes,” said Ghetsis. “Tried my best to give him a quiet peaceful upbringing. I’ve heard about what happens to child actors, and didn’t want to burden him with the pressures of the spotlight at such a young age.”

“Aww,” replied the anchorwoman. She then spotted the Cofagrigus. “Okay, what the hell is that?”

“A Cofagrigus,” replied Ghetsis, “If you want, you can scan him right now and log him in your pokédex. So can the audience, if they wish. He’s very excited to be on TV.”

“No, I mean, I was told that you were going to bring a cute pokémon to the show,” replied the anchorwoman.

“He _ is _ cute,” insisted Ghetsis, “He's a dapper gentleman with a dashing smile. You really can’t get any cuter than _ that _.”

Cofagrigus smiled at her and winked. As the anchorwoman looked on in horror, a few of the audience members got close to the stage and logged Cofagrigus into their pokédex. Cofagrigus purred contently, telling N, “My king, this is going according to plan. I also know about this anchorwoman doing this interview. Don’t worry, she’s on our side and I’m confident she’s not going to do anything funny, to say the least.”

N sighed and took a seat. Ghetsis sat next to him and Cofagrigus stood behind them, tucking in his arms and covering his face. The anchorwoman took her seat and everyone got settled, until it was time for the filming to begin which was just a few moments later.

As soon as the filming began, the anchorwoman said, “Welcome to Good Morning Unova! I’d love to welcome King Natural Harmonia-Gropius I and Team Plasma’s representative, Lord Ghetsis Harmonia V, to our show.”

The audience clapped and the warm welcome cheered up N.

“Alright, everyone was talking about this last night, but we want to know, where were you last night, Lord Ghetsis?” asked the anchorwoman.

Ghetsis’ left eye widened because he was only expecting N to be questioned. Calmly, he replied, “I’ve been sick with the cold. It got worse the last minute, but I’m feeling much better now. I’m disappointed that I couldn’t be present on stage with King Natural, but I heard his speech went well and that’s all that matters to me.”

“About that speech, wow…pretty heavy stuff,” said the anchorwoman. “People were crying.”

“I simply said what needed to be said,” replied N. “I care about pokémon and I want others to care for them too. This is why I went with an empathetic approach. I want people to stop and think about what they’re doing to these living, breathing creatures.”

Just then, Cofagrigus slowly retracted his face-panels and cracked open his sides, to extend his long shadowy arms. He reached over and began to stroke both N’s and Ghetsis’ long wavy hair. Father and son were unbothered by their pokémon’s sudden gesture of affection. Ghetsis nonchalantly reached over and shook his pokémon’s hand, as did N.

Cofagrigus cried and N said, “He says ‘hi’ and that he’s excited to be on the show.”

On TV, just above the news ticker the live TurTwitter comments were going wild about Cofagrigus. So many tweets that they scrolled up very quickly, making them difficult to read. The internet people had heard rumors of Cofagrigus appearing because when he came up on stage before the filming, some of the audience started tweeting about him. Of course, this was purely speculative until he revealed himself. (Nevermind, that the large ominous golden coffin that was right behind Ghetsis and N.)

Ghetsis pulled out a Citrus Poké Puff and handed it to Cofagrigus. 

“How long have you had Cofagrigus?” asked the anchorwoman.

“I caught him back in 1978…1979, I think,” replied Ghetsis. “This was back in the day when I was first introduced to catching pokémon and I was a boy who didn’t know any better. Obviously, once I realized that pokémon were trapped in pokéballs, I made an attempt to release him. This was like a couple of years later like in 1982. But, at the time, Yamask made it clear he wanted to stay with me. After all, I don’t really keep him in the ball and let him wander around the castle as he pleases. He is fed and loved by the whole family, just like the other pokémon we have.”

“Isn’t Cofagrigus dangerous?” asked the anchorwoman.

“The species has its reputation for a reason, but my boy here nice,” said Ghetsis. “He was out and about before the interview. You and the rest of the audience here saw with your own two eyes that he didn’t hurt anyone. But why would he? Pokémon are our friends and equals. They show us respect, like he as done to all of you, and it’s only fair for us to do the same.”

N whispered to Cofagrigus, “I’m starting to feel bad about this.”

“Why, my king?” replied Cofagrigus.

“I thought she was going to interview me in regards to my policies,” replied N. “But she’s caught up with talking about you to father. I don’t like how derailed this interview has gotten.”

“Didn’t you say you wanted to be away from the spotlight a bit because you were nervous?” asked Cofagrigus.

“Yes, but…not like this, it feels so…I don’t know,” said N. “_ Disingenuous _. Come to think of it, the victory speech father had to do was like this too. He just started singing his covers of traditional Unovan songs and a couple of songs he wrote himself. Nothing to do with me or Team Plasma’s official victory.”

“But everyone cheered, right?” asked Cofagrigus quietly. “Like your father has said, I’ve been with him for over 30 years. I was right there when he first started doing his pokémon liberation speeches. Back when we had to build the entire stage by hand overnight for a 10 to 30 minute speech, and then disassemble everything. Look, he’s been preaching the same thing long before you and your sisters were born. I don’t blame him for wanting to switch things up from time to time. Besides, with the internet, transcripts of his speeches are up on our website. We’ve got video too. All the information is right there at your fingertips, for anyone who wants to read up on this matter and educate themselves.”

N narrowed his eyes, as Cofagrigus continued to pet N, and make adorable gestures to the audience and the camera. He whispered to N, “I kind of wish other people could understand me. I want to tell the world who killed me and your great-grandfather.” Cofagrigus spoke lounder, “No matter, I will say so anyway! It was the old mayor of Castelia City! He was really pushing for the revolution because it would be good for business, as he saw fit, along with the narrative that the monarchy was an antiquated vestigial tradition of a bygone era. Ironically, the Harmonias have always been rather ‘progressive’, your father is an excellent example of that, but that ideology hurts big business because it places people and pokémon at the forefront. I’m happy that Team Plasma has won, because it is the justice that me and your great-grandfather have been craving for years and it is finally ours.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>   * The Harmonia's rule in Unova (in this AU) had ended in the early to mid 1950s. (Intended to be in an early Cold War era type of atmosphere.) Ghetsis' grandfather/N's great-grandfather decided to give up his power to prevent a bloody revolution. The last thing he wanted was for his country to plunge into a needless war. It was a controversial decision since he was well-liked and this popularity was quite dangerous, so his enemies decided to kill him off anyway. All of this happened before Ghetsis was born, so he never met his grandfather but heard many good things about him. Just another reason why Ghetsis is so bitter towards society.
>   * I actually_ did _think of several names for Ghetsis' Cofagrigus, but at the same time, if I "named" him, he would be his own character and not this proper canon character. So I never settled for anything. Anyway, in his past life, he liked to drink black coffee and smoke cigarettes for breakfast. (Maybe eat a doughnut or some toast too.) He went through one hell of a withdrawal as a Yamask. Since Ghetsis doesn't smoke or allow it, Cofagrigus only drinks coffee now. 
>   * The Anchorwoman, I imagined her to be like [Robin Roberts from Good Morning America](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robin_Roberts_\(newscaster\)), but since her description is so vague, you can imagine her as any other morning news show anchorwoman that comes to mind.
>   * TurTwitter (their version of Twitter, except it's green and has Turtwig as the mascot) is based out of Sinnoh. In this AU, any website and company with a poké-parody name is originally from the region the pokémon from the company name is from.


	5. Unnecessary Journey

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Burgh travels a similar route the BW/BW2 protagonists travel, except he's a grown man with a job who can afford a car, so he drives to his destination and enjoys it.

In Nacrene City, the director of the Nacrene Museum, Lenora was watching Good Morning Unova along with her beloved husband, Hawes, and their artistic friend, Burgh.

Hawes narrowed his eyes and adjusted his glasses, as he watched the Harmonias’ interview. “He’s doing it again, Lenora. He’s derailing the topic by talking about the Cofragrigus. Then that _ king _, he’s just sitting there with his head down, avoiding the camera and muttering something in tongues.”

“That Cofagrigus is precious though,” interrupted Burgh, who got glared at by Hawes.

“Ooh…Cofagrigus has blown a kiss to the cameras! It’s super-effective!” said the anchorwoman on TV.

“No…that kiss is for his ‘wife’,” replied Ghetsis on TV. “You see, my fellow Team Plasma administrator, Sage Gorm, has a female Cofagrigus. And yes, they do get along quite well. The wife has laid about four eggs since they’ve been together. Yes, I’ve mentioned how I feel about ‘breeding’ but these pokémon chose each other. The wife keeps her babies until they’re weaned and then, we gift them to our distinguished youths. I feel that we must allow mother pokémon to incubate their own eggs, as nature intends." 

“Awww…” said the anchorwoman. 

“King Natural probably talking to the Cofagrigus,” said Lenora. “I may not understand pokémon the way Lord Ghetsis claims he does, but the king and that Cofagrigus are definitely chatting about something.”

“Do you think he’s coaching the pokémon on how to act in front of the cameras?” asked Hawes. “This whole interview _ feels _ like another publicity stunt.”

“No, if anything, it looks like the Cofagrigus is coaching the king,” said Lenora. “Hold on.” Lenora reached into one of her apron pockets and pulled out some naproxen tablets. She took two and then drank some Fresh Water with them. “I still cannot believe we lost. Both the battle _ and _ the election. All this is giving me a migraine.”

“I don’t mean to defend Lord Ghetsis, but they had part of their castle emerge from the ground,” said Burgh. “Like…how can you look at that and _ not _ understand why Team Plasma won 78% of the vote?”

“Burgh, just admit that you’re in love with the man,” sighed Hawes.

“I’m not!” cried Burgh. “He’s just admirable to me, even though I _ completely _ disagree with his approach. There was a problem with pokémon training. I have seen some trainers force their pokémon to battle with mine. Usually, I catch it and tell the trainers to come back or decline their challenge. But there’s no reason it should be this restricted or even banned.”

“I’ve never seen anyone force a pokémon to battle,” replied Lenora.

“You haven’t beaten some kid so bad that they look through their backpacks and shove revives down the fainted pokémon’s throat and immediately send them back for a rematch?” asked Burgh.

“Wait, that’s bad?” asked Lenora.

“Yes!” said Burgh. “The pokémon haven’t quite recovered. At least give them 10 minutes after healing them, before trying again. They need to rest and reorient themselves.”

The three continued to chat, until Burgh decided to leave. He summoned Leavanny and helped his pokémon into the booster-seat that he had on his red convertible, and put the seat belt on him. Since it was a particularly sunny day, Burgh equipped his hat, sunglasses, and cream cape. Once Leavanny was ready, Burgh took off. Burgh wanted to personally have a word with Lord Ghetsis. His gut instincts told him that Lord Ghetsis might reconsider his stances because he seemed like a completely different person during the morning interview.

He drove north to Route 4 towards Nimbasa City. Along the way, Leavanny reached over and turned on the radio. Burgh smiled and said, “I was just about to ask you turn it on, it’s too quiet. Thank you.”

Leavanny smiled and wiggled his antennae. As they were waiting in traffic, because there was an accident up ahead, Burgh spotted a pair of grunts walking down the sidewalk pulling a cart, accompanied by a Purrloin.

Burgh cupped his hands and shouted, “Hey!”

One of the grunts looked at the other, and whispered, “Isn’t that one of those gym leaders we made fun of after we whooped their asses in front of the castle?”

“I don’t remember,” replied the other grunt.

The grunts and their Purrloin approached Burgh.

“How can I get in contact with your ‘representative’, Lord Ghetsis?” asked Burgh. “Do you have his phone number?”

“No,” replied one of the grunts. “But even if I did, I don’t think he’s interested in seeing anyone.”

The other grunt elbowed his companion on the stomach. “I don’t have his number either, but you could always send us an email. It’s at our website, TeamPlasma.org, under ‘Contact Us’. There’s also our handle on TurTwitter, @OfficialTeamPlasma, although I think Sage Rood runs that account. But he wouldn’t mind relaying the message to Lord Ghetsis.”

“Alright, thank you,” replied Burgh. 

Fortunately, the traffic cleared up and he left Nimbasa City onto Route 16. There he approached Marvelous Bridge, which was being guarded by two workers. Unlike the various teen trainers who could not cross the bridge because the workers turned them away, Burgh had a big wad of cash. After paying his toll, he was allowed to cross the Marvelous Bridge, and headed to Route 15. He then drove through Black City, which was supposed to be impossible to reach but Burgh didn’t give a damn and continued on his way. 

He headed northeast to Route 14 into Undella Town. There, Burgh had stopped to rest and let Leavanny stretch out his legs, before they resumed their journey. Burgh entered Undella Bay and went into Seaside Cave. Fortunately, Burgh’s convertible was an AudiNO and immune to water damage and safely traveled in the cave. Finally, he and his pokémon had arrived at their destination. He spotted the Plasma Frigate. To play it safe, Burgh placed Leavanny into his pokéball before slowly approaching the Plasma Frigate with his car. He stopped when he saw several grunts approach him. 

The grunts were unrecognizable at first because they were wearing dark gray uniforms and their faces were covered with masks. One of the grunts said to him, “State your business.”

“I want to have a word with Lord Ghetsis,” said Burgh, as he pulled out another wad of cash, showing it to the grunt.

The grunts looked at each other nervously. They weren’t expecting to receive a generous donation from anyone. One of them called Sage Rood and asked him what to do.

Sage Rood said, “That man is trying to bribe you guys. Check him for weapons, accept his payment if he’s unarmed, and fly him over here with the Plasma Frigate.”

“Weapons?!” asked the grunt.

“Look, if a man is trying to bribe you, he likely engages in delinquency, we have to be careful,” said Sage Rood.

“Okay, thank you,” replied the grunt, who ordered his teammates to check Burgh for weapons. Burgh only carried four bags – one with his lunch, one with his clothes, another with his pokéballs and personal electronics, and the last one full of cash. They accepted his payment and flew him towards Team Plasma Castle.

Curious, one of the grunts asked him, “I hope it’s not too personal, but what do you do for a living?”

Knowing that he could no longer say he was the gym leader at Castelia City, Burgh replied, “I am an artist.”

“I thought artists didn’t make much money,” replied another grunt.

“Well, just the ones who _ don’t _ accept mature commissions,” said Burgh. “I love drawing the human form, and many people from all over the world enjoy these drawings I make. For international customers, I mostly do digital commissions starting at around $120. Depending on the complexity, the price usually increases. Traditional commissions start at around $90 but those are usually reserved for Unovans, unless the international client is willing to pay all the shipping. The reason traditional art is cheaper is because I find it easier to make, than struggling with a drawing tablet.”

“Can we see your drawings?” asked another grunt.

“They’re on my TurTwitter, @ArtyBugMan,” replied Burgh. He then whispered to the grunt, “How old are you?”

“I’m 23,” whispered the grunt, as some of his other teammates pulled out their phones and looked up Burgh’s art TurTwitter. Burgh mostly had drawings of pokémon and fan art that clients had commissioned from him.

Burgh shrugged and walked over to him. He showed the grunt his NSFW TurTwitter which was not linked to his SFW TurTwitter. The grunt’s eyes widened when he realized that he was following Burgh’s NSFW TurTwitter, but he was too shy to admit it.

“I have a question,” said the 23 year old grunt.

“Yes?” asked Burgh as he quickly switched to his SFW TurTwitter, just in case another grunt decided to look at his phone’s screen.

“Why do some of those pinup men you’ve drawn there look like Lord Ghetsis?” asked the grunt. “But without the eye-patch and sometimes without the cowlicks.”

“What? No!” replied Burgh. “The client who commissioned these specifically wanted the subject to look like their s/o. And yes, those are all from the same client. They even sent me photos but I can’t share those, even if the s/o was fully dressed. If you look, you can see the client’s handle and check them out. I'm not sure where they’re from. All their commissions have been digital. Their location says the “South Poll”, and they write a lot of their tweets in Kalosian. I assume this is just a coincidence. Kalosians and Unovans are sometimes quite similar-looking.”

Burgh looked around nervously and wondered if these commissions were the reason others were saying he was in love with Lord Ghetsis. Some of his fellow gym leader friends, like Lenora and Nimbasa City’s Elesa, know about his NSFW account and followed him. But then, that client who wanted his pale, mint green-haired hunky significant other drawn, always tipped Burgh about 25% of the commission price. So of course, Burgh never thought twice about accepting commissions from this possible Kalosian client.

Minutes later, they arrived at Team Plasma Castle. Burgh drove down the ramp, and pulled up to the entrance, only to be met by a Shadow. The Shadow narrowed his eyes and said to Burgh, “What do you want?”

“I want to speak with Lord Ghetsis,” said Burgh.

“You’ll have to wait,” said the Shadow. “He’s busy doing a conference call with King Natural, the other sages, and the Unovan majors.” The Shadow looked at Burgh's convertible and then at the Plasma Frigate.

“Dude…did you drive all the way over here?!” asked the Shadow in awe.

“Yes,” replied Burgh.

“Why didn’t you fast-travel?” asked the Shadow. “That’s what we did after we left the station, so King Natural could get ready for this conference call.” (Fast-travel, here, means that the Team Plasma’s limo went off-road. Unlike other limos, their limo is a four-wheel drive.)

“I enjoy driving,” said Burgh, “The Unovan countryside and cityscapes are beautiful.”

The Shadow looked at Burgh as if he were a madman, and jumped into the convertible, to direct him to the designated parking spot. And then, the Shadow helped carry Burgh’s bags into the castle while they waited for King N and Lord Ghetsis to finish their conference call.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>   * This victory was so stressful, it's the reason Lenora quits being a gym leader to focuses on being the director of the museum from 2012 onward.
>   * My favorite part of this was the fact that Burgh has a booster seat for his signature pokémon, the Leavanny, in his car. I'm pretty sure other people would also do the same with their favorites.
>   * **Water-proof Audi**NO is a meme between my mom and I. Because when we watched Transporter 3, the main protagonist was driving an Audi and the car got submerged underwater and still ran. AudiNO is a classic Unovan car brand, known for its durability. 
>   * Burgh's commission rate is fairly average, for someone of his skill-level. While he could easily charge a little more and open up more slots, he was also been busy managing his gym. His popularity is mostly from the combination of both being the gym leader and a skilled artist who does sexy commissions. As I've told my friend, he has his limits. Like he's not going to accept a commission where the client wants a sexy Lopunny with her tits out, but he will draw a sexy Brycen-Man fanart with his catsuit so tight you can clearly see his nipples and the shape of his junk because that definitely counts as "human form". Yes, Burgh missing out on making money from the sexy pokémon art, but he just can't do them. He doesn't see pokémon that way. He would do humanized SFW/storybook style art of them and probably has.


	6. The Spring of 1995

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alder recounts an significant even in his life which occurred in 1995 that ended up completely changing his life. He also mentions his early pokémon trainer journey.

Since Mayor Drayden of Opelucid City was going to be tied up with a conference call, his granddaughter, Iris, decided to call over her friend, Alder because she was bored and wanted to talk to someone. The morning was a slow one. Since the suspension of the Pokémon League due to the Harmonias' decree, activity was nonexistent at the gyms. Alder arrived a short while later, accompanied by his grandson and his apprentice.

“Did you guys watch that interview with King Natural, this morning?” asked Iris.

“No,” replied Alder. “I can’t stand the sight of Ghetsis. It’s the only reason I could watch the king’s speech in the first place because he wasn't there.” 

“You can't stand him because he’s a troublemaker, right?” asked Iris.

Alder’s eyes widened. “No…but I agree that he is one. My problem with him is more _ personal _.”

“He’s your ex?” asked Alder’s apprentice.

“Marshal!” gasped Alder. “We’re both straight. He had his wife, I’ve had…I’ve been with several women.”

“But Ghetsis has surrounded himself with a whole rainbow of men,” replied Marshal.

“Those are just his friends from ‘college’,” said Alder. “All their clique cares about is the Plasmanity aesthetic and bothering innocent people with weird guilt-tripping speeches. The fact he refers to them as ‘the smartest men from all over the world’ is laughable. Sure, they were exchange students from distant regions, but in the end, they’re just as dumb as he is.”

“Gramps, I wasn’t expecting you roasting anybody today,” replied Alder’s grandson, Benga.

“Ghetsis roasts himself,” replied Marshal. “There’s so many memes about the guy because he’s so ridiculous. The funniest thing of all is that he’s clearly oblivious to how much of a meme he is.”

“Wait a minute,” interrupted Iris. “Are you saying he’s the guy from the ‘Local Man Fights Volcarona’ meme?” Iris noticed both Alder and Marshal turned pale and their smiles faded from their faces. “Is that a yes…?”

“Yeah,” replied Benga sadly. “Sure it’s probably the most famous Unovan meme of all time, but if you knew about what happened, then you wouldn’t be laughing.”

“I guess it’s time for Iris to know the whole story,” said Alder. “But first, you must remember that the moral of this story is that _ you must choose the best pokémon at your disposal or else, you’ll head down a path of corruption and villainy _. This is exactly what happened with Ghetsis.” 

* * *

Alder remembered the first time he met Ghetsis, back in 1978. They had gone to the professor’s lab to receive their starter pokemon. Alder already had a bad first impression of Ghetsis, a prissy prince who probably didn’t like touching dirt. Also, it seemed like Ghetsis didn’t even bother to research the starter pokémon because he was quick to select the Snivy, the worst Unovan starter, and justified his choice by saying, “He’s so cute and I love him.” 

Unlike Ghetsis, Alder started his trainer journey with the desire to become the Unovan Champion. (Even though his ultimate goal, at the time, was to be the very best that no one ever was.) He had chosen Oshawott as his starter and used him to catch a Larvesta, which was really the only pokémon that interested him.

However, Larvesta leveled up slowly, which caused Alder to rethink his goals. Focused on training his Larvesta, both decided that they wanted to be the most powerful in the region. With their new goal in mind, they continued to train, until Larvesta was able to evolve into Volcarona.

Alder and Volcarona continued to battle in the League. They defeated the Elite Four and finally, defeated the champion, to claim the title. Alder remained the undefeated champion for many years. Many challenged him, but were unable to defeat him. With each battle, Alder continued to gain experience and had become an even better trainer than before. During this time, Ghetsis’ pokémon liberation movement and organization (Team Plasma) was steadily growing in popularity. Pokémon training wasn't cruelty, as far as Alder was concerned. Growing sick of the nonsense Ghetsis was spewing, Alder made up his mind to confront him about it and put an end to it. 

Although it happened 14 years ago, Alder remembered that day vividly. It was the second speech or so, that Ghetsis had done that year. He had postponed and rescheduled his speeches earlier that year due to his wife’s sudden death, at the end of the previous year. Alder, who was busy exploring the countryside and catching pokémon, was unaware of this news. Had Alder known about Ghetsis’ tragic loss, he would’ve thought twice about challenging Ghetsis to a pokémon battle immediately after he concluded his speech. 

Ghetsis accepted his challenge. He told Alder to wait for him because he needed to get ready for battle. A few minutes later, Ghetsis presented himself before Alder wearing normal human clothing – a dark blue tank top, beige skinny jeans, and an unbuttoned long-sleeved white shirt. Alder couldn’t help but be disappointed, but regardless he was eager to battle.

They battled normally as any trainers would. The crowd watched, as they appeared equally matched. Of course, Alder saved his best pokémon for last – Volcarona.

Ghetsis was down to his last pokémon as well, his Servine, who was no match for Alder’s Volcarona. There was something odd about Ghetsis’ calmness, despite his predicament. He looked at Alder and said, “You know what? Let’s make this last match memorable. I shall battle Volcarona, myself, in Servine’s place.”

“Wait, that’s illegal!” cried Marshal, who at the time was just a fanboy who followed Alder around.

“We’re not participating in a tournament, Marshal,” replied Alder. Turning to Ghetsis, he said, “…You know what? I accept this new condition. I’ve always admired men who can put their money where their mouth is.” 

After giving him a Max Revive, Ghetsis summoned his recently-evolved Cofagrigus. He handed his pokémon his bag and the rest of the pokéballs. Alder couldn’t help but find it charming that the trainer and his pokémon had switched roles. 

Ghetsis extended his right arm, which he had been keeping behind his back. It was then that Alder noticed that it was deformed. At a glance, Ghetsis’ hand had become blackened and appeared crusted but looking at it more closely, the crustiness looked scaly. Supinating his palm, Ghetsis closed his eyes and quickly made it into a fist and revealed that he was holding a large stone, which had materialized in his hand. 

The Volcarona's eyes widened. While he had seen many rock-types materialize rocks as Ghetsis had done, it was disturbing to witness a human doing such a thing. He looked at Alder and then back at Ghetsis.

Using Smack Down, Ghetsis threw the stone at Volcarona, making it fall straight down. After hitting its target, the stone disintegrated right before everyone's eyes.

Unbothered, Alder ordered Volcarona to use Ember on Ghetsis. Volcarona looked at Alder nervously, but Alder insisted. Volcarona attacked Ghetsis with small flames, singeing his clothes and burning him a bit, taking some HP along with it.

It was Ghetsis’ turn. Suddenly a dark menacing aura emerged from his blackened arm. The menacing aura began to glow purple and it seemed like Ghetsis’ nails had become claws. He charged at Volcarona, striking him, using Shadow Claw. Not as effective but still did some damage.

Volcarona looked at Alder. Alder, annoyed and surprised that the attacks were quite strong, he ordered Volcarona to use Fire Spin on Ghetsis. Still injured by the attack, Ghetsis skipped his turn. Alder ordered Volcarona to use Fire Spin again, but this time, the attack didn’t linger. Ghetsis’ HP was nearing the red but still at a yellow level.

The air began to go dry, and drinks seemingly evaporated, as Ghetsis took a deep breath. Meanwhile, his skin glistened as if he were sweating, his clothes were soaked. Concentrating all the humidity around him as he inhaled, he exhaled and used Water Gun, which was Super Effective. Volcarona’s HP was now about the same as Ghetsis.

Alder covered himself with his poncho, since he was getting splashed by the powerful spiral of water that Ghetsis shot out of his mouth. It was then that Alder suspected that he may have made a mistake to challenge Ghetsis. He could forgive the rocks that suddenly materialized from his opponent’s hand. He even forgave Ghetsis’ creepy blackened arm when it began to release a shadowy aura with an eerie purple glow. Water Gun was more disturbing than either of these moves and it scared Alder. They continued to battle, but it was clear that Ghetsis was much more powerful than Volcarona, despite being level 37.

His turn, Alder ordered Volcarona to use Ember, but since Ghetsis was soaked, the fire had no effect on him. Ghetsis glared at Volcarona, then stared down Alder, as he panted. Both trainer and pokémon observed him with dread. As expected in battles, they could use four moves and Ghetsis had only been using three – Smack Down, Shadow Claw, and Water Gun. Alder and Volcarona both suspected that Ghetsis would finish off the battle with his fourth move.

Ghetsis reached over with his left hand and removed his monocled eyepatch, to reveal darkened scaly skin around his right eye, which appeared to be in the slightly sun-shaped. He opened his right eye which was a bright red and had a slit pupil. The beast-like eye had an inhuman gaze. Ghetsis closed his normal human left eye and without warning, he shot Hyper Beam out of his right eye, to knock out Volcarona. The red beam from the Hyper Beam nearly hit Alder, who managed to duck.

Others around them watched, disturbed that such raw energy was produced by a human being. However, it wasn’t over. Due to his victory, Ghetsis gained experience. Although he remained physically unaltered, Alder and the audience could feel Ghetsis leveling up. The thought of him becoming more powerful terrified everyone present.

Alder looked on in horror. The man who stood before him with the deformities and crazed expression, was not the same person as the young prissy prince who had chosen the Snivy as his starter because he thought it was cute. In fact, Alder couldn’t even think of this man as a human, since he was clearly a monstrous freak with a murderous gleam in his eyes. Alder couldn't help but feel heartbroken. Never in his life had he expected to witness such corruption, fueled by the desire for more power. In a brief moment of introspection, Alder’s desire to become the very best suddenly vanished.

* * *

“Thinking about it now, this battle was what killed my Volcarona,” said Alder. “Volcarona didn’t want to fight Ghetsis, but I insisted and pushed him to do it. Afterwards, Volcarona became very ill and refused to eat. At the time, I could not understand why and did everything I could, including taking him to the Pokémon Center, but nothing worked. Volcarona got sicker and eventually wasted away, until he was gone. He didn’t live to see the summer. In my despair, I wandered for years until I realized what had occurred. It was my fault he died! I had put my own ambition ahead of my pokémon’s well-being and safety. I am the monster for even challenging Ghetsis to begin with. Ghetsis’ mind and humanity was already gone by then.”

Iris covered her mouth, there was nothing she could say.

“And to think there’s people out there who want Gramps to have a rematch,” said Benga.

“That’s horrible!” gasped Iris.

“It’s insensitive,” said Marshal. “Even Ghetsis doesn’t want a rematch. It’s on the Team Plasma website’s FAQs, that he has no plans on personally battling against Alder or any other trainers. The fact it’s even in the FAQs, is disgusting. Look it up if you don’t believe me.”

“Why are you even looking Team Plasma’s website?” asked Benga.

“To see what other nonsense they come up with,” replied Marshal. But the truth was that he wanted the Team Plasma merch that was sold there. He had seen Unovans carrying the merch and saw it was of excellent quality. It was reasonably priced but its proceeds went to fund Team Plasma activity throughout Unova. The curiosity and guilt, made Marshal fill up the shop’s shopping cart and dump it. Fortunately, for Marshal, everyone present bought his excuse and they resumed talking about pokémon training. 

As for Alder, he took a deep breath and sighed with relief. For a second, he thought he was going to accidentally reveal to them that he thought Ghetsis bore a strong resemblance to a moth when he wore his eye-patterned ceremonial robes during his speeches and other public appearances. Seeing this moth-like man on stage, made Alder feel distracted because he knew his obsession with moths had evolved into a kink at this point. It was easier to say he hated Ghetsis than to say that he wanted to make love to a moth.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>   * "It's not gay, if it's with a moth." This is the only way I'll accept Alder/Ghetsis and it must also be one-sided with Alder wanting to have physical relations with the Unovan Mothman. Ghetsis just thinks Alder is an uncivilized brute.
>   * I just wanted to write a scene where Ghetsis personally battles someone. I know this clearly makes no sense for him to have been RR!Ghetsis because then that would mean he should've literally ended Colress' whole career and life with Hyper Beam. He'd have ended the intruders' lives too because he was clearly that OP and inhuman, before the memory loss.
>   * I actually want Team Plasma merch sold like this. So did my friend, who admitted she'd buy their stuff for their charity and like end up giving them a big donation as a result. I can see the Aether Foundation selling merch for their charity too. Team Skull would probably sell stuff online but not from their own website, like the ones Team Plasma, Team Flare, and Aether Foundation run.
>   * In "[Get Sick](https://archiveofourown.org/works/20324326/chapters/48325855)", Zinzolin reveals he's Drayden's ex-boyfriend and is still upset over their breakup. (Basically, Nice Dragon Grandpa dumped Kinky Ice Man because he couldn't take it anymore.) I was tempted to write the meeting and how tense it was. But I felt this unpleasantness would distract from whatever tone I was trying to convey here.


	7. Politics as Usual

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> N begins to open his eyes to The Truth.

After the phone conference ended, N and Ghetsis walked down the hallway to N’s room. For the most part, N’s day was over and he was finally allowed to rest. Ghetsis received a message that Burgh wanted to speak with him. As they walked down the hallway, Ghetsis stopped and said to N, “My son, listen to me. I want you to promise me that you’ll never get involved with a short, brown-haired man…well, boy, in your case.”

N raised an eyebrow. “Wait, why?”

“Short brown-haired men are nothing but trouble and will destroy our family,” replied Ghetsis, who was disturbed that his regular universe counterpart was defeated and humiliated by some troublesome short brown-haired brat. All because N had become infatuated with this boy and got himself distracted. “Don’t allow such a person to seduce you. Especially, if his name is ‘Hilbert’. It will end badly.”

N looked at his father, who had gone pale just from mentioning this. However, N was more confused as to why his father assumed he’d be into boys. N couldn’t recall meeting any boys he liked, only one or two crushes on a couple of female grunts, that he outgrew because they weren’t his type. Suddenly, it dawned on him. N asked, “…Um…didn’t Sage Zinzolin used to have brown hair when he was my age?”

“N…don’t compare!” gasped Ghetsis. “Sage Zinzolin raised you, do not disrespect him like this! He’s nothing like that demon I heard about in Alola! The one who destroyed the Harmonia family from that world!”

“Demon?” asked N. His eyes widened, “Destroyed our family?! How?!

“He humiliated us in public and then took your…Zekrom,” replied Ghetsis, worried about N believing him, since N seemed to be maturing into a distrustful but analytical man. The type of person who took everyone’s word as a grain of salt until he examined the evidence for himself.

“I see…,” replied N. “That’s the problem; this other ‘N’ was the Hero of Ideals, he wasn’t very smart to begin with and very careless as a result.” N reached over and held both his father’s hands. “I’m not like that. I’m the Hero of Truth, remember? I know better than to betray those who love and raised me, for some short brown-haired demon, because of some ludicrous ‘ideals’. The only abstract thing I care about is ‘truth’ because it’s tangible but not in the traditional sense.”

Ghetsis looked away, and N couldn’t help but feel sad that his father didn’t believe him. Bothered that he had said too much, Ghetsis hurried away and N looked on until this father turned the corner.

Meanwhile, Burgh was outside with his Leavanny. Since it was a sunny day, it was perfect weather for grass-types to go out and frolic. Concordia was outside with her Rowlet and her Swadloon. Her Gardevoir was there too, but she was resting in the shade next to her. Concordia’s two grass-types played with each other in the sun and had convinced Burgh's Leavanny to join them. 

Anthea was outside, sitting next to her Gothitelle, and her sister. She recognized Burgh as one of the gym leaders that had dared to challenge King N and Team Plasma. Concordia was oblivious to this and was chatting with Burgh about how she was planning on training her new Rowlet. Obviously, Concordia was going to do it the same way her father trained his pokémon – by personally battling them herself. After all, she trained her Gardevoir and her sister’s Gothitelle this same way. (As did Anthea.)

Burgh frowned and said, “No, that’s terrible! I remembered that I tried to train my pokémon that same way when I first started out as a trainer, but it messed up my mind and affected my creativity.”

“Perhaps whatever you were learning was inappropriate for a human,” replied Anthea. 

“I was trying to learn ‘Infestation’,” chuckled Burgh.

“Yes, that’s inappropriate,” said Anthea. “Struggle Bug and Bug Bite, seem to be the only Bug-Type moves a human can successfully learn.”

“Yeah, I know those,” replied Burgh. He felt someone approach him, and turned around to see Ghetsis standing before him who had a concerned expression on his face. It was then that Burgh noticed that Ghetsis had a beauty mark near his left eye, exactly like the mint green-haired man he drew for the naughty commissions. Feeling embarrassed, Burgh forgot what he was going to say.

“It’s you…,” said Ghetsis. The face Ghetsis made confused Burgh; he wasn’t used to seeing Ghetsis being so – expressive. Something had indeed happened to the man, just as the rumors he heard about had said. Narrowing his eye, Ghetsis asked, “What do you want?”

“I wanted you to reconsider lifting the ban on battling,” began Burgh. “Pokémon have an innate desire to become better and stronger, and as humans, it’s our duty to help them.”

“While your claim _ can _ be argued, the same cannot be said about the current system, i.e. The Unovan League, and how it exploits both pokémon and young trainers, forcing them to engage in pokémon cruelty for ‘sport’,” replied Ghetsis.

“But you have battled many times,” said Burgh, “You even battled and defeated a pokémon yourself, who was like 20 levels higher than you.”

“I shouldn’t have to,” replied Ghetsis. “As for the pokémon I battled, I deeply regret giving into that trainer’s insolent demands. If I had a chance to do it all over again, I would’ve endured the trainer’s taunts. But at that moment, I couldn’t because I was near my breaking point; the previous year was difficult. I rather humiliate this annoying man, which I did, than break down into tears in front of strangers.”

A few years ago, Drayden had warned Burgh to resist the temptation to “reason” with Ghetsis and not allow himself to be fooled by Ghetsis’ sweet inoffensive demeanor. Drayden was all too familiar with his kind – a seemingly “harmless” trickster who’d have any poor soul believing something as absurd as the sky being green. For Burgh, this advice was sound; he felt Ghetsis’ gaze was too aloof, even in his most passionate of speeches. This detail alone made Burgh wary of his words and message. However, now it was different. He could see Ghetsis’ conviction and sorrow in his eyes, something Burgh had never observed before, and felt it too.

As they spoke, N and Colress looked out the window. 

“My father is losing his mind,” said N. “He’s talking to one of those gym leaders. My sisters are there with him too.” N gasped, he feared for the worst and was considering jumping out of the window to come to his family’s aid.

Colress adjusted his glasses and said, “From the gym leaders I’ve seen, this man and the ground-type leader, are the only two I wouldn’t worry about being that close to your father. They have their opinions, but also good morals.”

“Just in case…,” replied N, as he shot a Mean Look at Burgh.

Reaching over, Colress grabbed N’s face and covered up his eyes. “Please don’t do this, _ especially _ during the speeches.”

With his attack interrupted, N asked, “Why? Everyone I talked to said I should do it because it’ll prevent people from interrupting my speeches or walking out.” N grabbed Colress’ wrist and moved his hand out of his face.

“Humans don’t work that way,” said Colress, realizing that N had asked the various pokémon present at the castle for advice.

“Then _ how _do they work?” asked N. “I’m simply trying to find more effective methods for spreading Team Plasma’s message. Being ‘cute and charming’ hasn’t been working for father these past 25 years. Sure he draws large crowds but they seem more interested in watching him talk, than taking the message to heart.”

Colress shrugged, as N sighed.

N rubbed his forehead and said to Colress, “Being King of Unova is hard work. First was that awful TV interview, then the bumpy ride back home, and finally this conference call. Those mayors. Ugh! Being King of Team Plasma didn’t prepare me for this.”

“I think you have a meeting with the sages later today,” replied Colress. “I think they’re going to have you sign some documents. At least, that’s what Zinzolin had told me.”

“Noo…!” cried N. As much as N loved to read, he hated having to read complicated, jargon-filled legal documents. In fact, N never read over any forms he needed to sign and just handed them to his father, so he could tell N if they were worth signing.

Colress smiled nervously because he had no idea how to comfort N.

“What am I going to do?” asked N. “Sure, I asked Victini to help us win, because I want pokémon to be freed, but then I was expecting to um…” N blushed, not sure if he should reveal his plan to Colress. But Colress looked like a friendly soul, “…to let the Seven Sages handle the governing aspects of it. They’re good at managing things, especially father. I was just gonna kick back and resume my own pokémon journey.”

“Journey?” asked Colress as he raised an eyebrow.

“Yeah, I was planning on cataloging every wild pokémon I came across here in Unova,” replied N. “I’ve been doing this for a while. I usually go out to the parks and ask the pokémon I see if they’d let me write down their measurements manually into my pokédex. My goal was to generate a census of the pokémon living here, and then figure out how I’m going to get them to vote. For pokémon and humans to be truly equal here, the pokémon must be given the right to vote.”

Colress blinked. “If they’re going to vote, shouldn’t they pay taxes as well? How are you going to pull that off? Wild pokémon handing you the berries they find in the wild, doesn't match the hundreds and thousands of dollars that human citizens pay on a yearly basis. How is that _ equality_?”

N turned pale. “You know what? I’m going to have a talk with the sages about promoting you. You know more about politics than I do, and having another human perspective on this matter wouldn’t hurt.”

Colress looked into N’s soulless eyes. He didn’t sign up for this.

Outside, Ghetsis invited Burgh to stay for dinner, since it was getting late. However, Burgh politely declined and decided to drive back home, taking the “fast-travel” route the Shadow had told him about. Although it was quick, Burgh hated every second of it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>   * Good thing that Hilbert doesn't exist in this AU, although I can't say the same for Hilda who wasn't allowed to pick her starter with Cheren and Bianca. Perhaps brown-haired girls/women are different than brown-haired boys/men. ;)
>   * Drayden is also bitter about Zinzolin. He sees those same "bad" qualities in Ghetsis. Since they're both in Team Plasma, it's just more proof that they're all bad people. He cannot imagine Zinzolin and Ghetsis _ever_ being lovers. He thinks they won't be able to stand each other because of such "nasty personalities.” <strike>His assumption is horribly wrong.</strike>


	8. Some Personal Love

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There are things that meant to be said, and others that should be kept to yourself because they're weird and nobody wants to know what kind of weird things you're into.

An hour or so later, Burgh arrived at his home, the Castelia City gym. Despite the suspension of pokémon battles, Burgh was still able to keep his gym running since it had also doubled as his personal art gallery. After making sure his bugs had their dinner, Burgh decided to sit in his room and check his notifications on the various social media sites he used to promote his artwork. Finally, he went to TurTwitter and decided to confront the client who had always commissioned the Ghetsis-lookalike, handle @violetaçacin. (Yes, TurTwitter allows other accent marks in their handles.)

Burgh sent the client a DM, “Excuse me, Violent Acacian, have you ever heard of Lord Ghetsis Harmonia V?”

The client immediately replied in Kalosian, “C'est un beau prince d'Unys.” The client quickly added in Unovan, “Yes, he's a handsome prince from Univa who looks identical my husband, Denis. Was someone accusing you of drawing Lord Ghetsis inappropriately when they saw my commissions?”

Burgh sighed and answered, “Not accusing, but others have been giving me hints and I didn’t notice until today.”

"I apologize for getting you in trouble," replied the client. "You can delete my commissions and I won't trouble you anymore."

"No, not that!" said Burgh, nervous about losing one of his most generous clients. "I was just curious about the strong resemblance between your husband and Lord Ghetsis. Your commissions are fine, you're not troubling me."

"Alright," replied the client. “Did you know that Lord Ghetsis is popular here in Kalos?”

“Wait, for real?” asked Burgh. As far as he was concerned, a lot of Unovans found Lord Ghetsis and Team Plasma to be a nuisance, but the Team Plasma merch they sold on their website, to fund their questionable activities, was great and people kept buying it.

“Oh yes,” replied the client. “He has a sweet, pleasant voice and is nice to look at. I often wonder why our Team Flare doesn’t have a gorgeous representative talking to us about ‘beautification’. They’ve tried to copy the Team Plasma merchandise, except theirs is ugly and overpriced. They should’ve copied the ‘representative’ for the public to enjoy, but I’m also relieved that they have not. I can’t imagine what kind of tacky red scoundrel they’d use.”

“I thought that leather clad, Pyroar-looking guy was the ‘representative’,” said Burgh.

“Which one?” asked the client. He quickly replied, “No, he’s just our most famous inventor and founder of Lysandre Labs, Lysandre. Yes, he talks passionately about wanting to live in a more beautiful world, but there is no way such an elegant refined man would ever associate himself with that tasteless Team Flare. He is too beautiful and prolonged exposure to such tackiness would destroy his already tortured soul.”

Burgh paused, wondering why Kalosians were like _ that _. 

"I must go, it is late," replied the client. "I might commission from you later, but I will wait to see how your political climate fairs, since you have brought the resemblances to my attention. I certainly wouldn’t want to get you into trouble. You have a gift and the love you have for art is evident in every piece that you create, both family-friendly and kinky. Goodnight."

Meanwhile, the meeting between the Seven Sages, King N, and Colress had lasted longer than expected. Ghetsis and N were both exhausted, but Ghetsis insisted on continuing the meeting because he wanted everything resolved before the day was over.

Sighing Ghetsis said, “Sage Zinzolin, please get off the phone.”

“Sorry,” replied Sage Zinzolin, as he closed out of his TurTwitter app.

Sage Ryoku managed to get a peek at Sage Zinzolin’s screen and said, “Vio, why are you on that Turtwig site?”

“Because I like to keep up with the news from Kalos,” replied Zinzolin. “Their tabloid journalism is amazing. Some of these celebrities talk about ending each other’s careers and their careers_ still _haven’t ended.”

Ghetsis frowned, “Ugh, don’t waste your time reading such things! The tabloid is just gossip and gossip is a sin.”

“But all of this is true,” replied Zinzolin. “The Kalosian elite really do act like this.”

Realizing that their meeting had derailed, Ghetsis said to N, “As I was saying, I was able to watch a recording of your speech and I’m disappointed. Why did you use ‘Mean Look’ on the audience? I’ve taught you better than this. It’s not right to frighten the audience like that. I want people to release their pokémon because they made a conscious decision to do so, not because they were intimidated by a speech. This is why I taught you ‘Disarming Voice’, so you could use that instead.”

“Everyone I talked to said I should use ‘Mean Look’,” said N.

“N…,” sighed Ghetsis. “What have I told you about getting advice from pokémon?”

“Father, don’t you always say that we’re equals?” asked N. “Besides, you and the sages are always busy. Anthea and Concordia don’t even go out, so there’s really no one I can ask, except for the pokémon that hang out here.”

Ghetsis’ eye widened. “Yes, we are equals, but their customs are different than ours. So what is applicable for their interactions is inappropriate for humans, and vice versa. This is why getting advice from them isn’t really a good idea, per se…”

“Excuse me, Lord Ghetsis,” interrupted Giallo, “I recall you saying that both you and King N had a phone interview early tomorrow morning, with some foreign reporters.”

“Ugh…well then, we’ll resume this meeting tomorrow,” said Ghetsis, as he removed his monocled eyepatch with his right hand, and rubbed both his eyes with his left hand. Ghetsis signalled N to follow him, and both of them exited the room as the sages got up from their seats.

Colress was almost out of the door when he turned around and saw that the sages had all sat down in their seats again, as if nothing had happened. Colress smiled and asked, “Um…I thought the meeting was over?”

“It is,” replied Bronius, “you’re free to leave if you like.”

Wanting to chat with Lusamine again, Colress said, “Goodnight then, see you tomorrow!” And he hurried to his room.

As soon as Colress was gone, Gorm said, “I hate it when Ghetsis gets cranky and starts repeating himself. Giallo, I appreciate the reminder because his nagging was giving me a headache too.”

“I’m worried about N,” said Rood, “None of us taught him ‘Mean Look’. Who knows what other moves he’s already learned without telling us. I would hate to see that sweet boy end up like his father, you know…”

“From what I’ve observed, the degree of mutation depends on your ulterior motives, which are dictated by your heart’s true feelings,” replied Zinzolin. “For example, I learned ice moves for therapeutic reasons, since I still suffer the effects from being cryofrozen. The mutation I’ve developed helps me survive without having to wear ice packs all the time.”

“Wait, aren’t you just regular cryofrozen, right?” asked Bronius.

“Yes,” replied Zinzolin.

“I thought the regular freezing effects get cured with finding ‘true love’,” replied Bronius. He turned to Ryoku and said, “See? This is probably why Ghetsis was encouraging all of us to find our own girlfriends, or boyfriends.”

“The concept of ‘true love’ has nothing to do with erotic or romantic love,” replied Ryoku. “The problem is that we’ve been unable to love each other, deeply, due to our obligations.” He turned to Zinzolin, “You did seem to be improving during the time we were teaching the children. We were all together back then. Almost for the same reasons we’re together now – Ghetsis needs us more than ever and so do you.”

The other sages nodded in agreement. It _ did _ feel good to be reunited and that’s how it should be.

“There is a legend from Kanto that tells of nine saintly mages who all loved each other deeply and reincarnated together, becoming Ninetales,” said Ryoku. “This could very well be us someday. We become Unovan Ninetales with its black and white coat, and spectral tail.”

“What the fuck?” asked Giallo.

“Must you always ruin the mood with your cursed legends?” asked Rood.

“I don’t understand the questions, nothing has been ruined,” replied Ryoku. “I’m simply thinking about our future together and how wonderful it could be if we became Ninetales. We’d be together and complete.”

“Wait, there’s only Seven Sages, and Ninetales needs nine people,” replied Bronius.

“We can include King N and Achroma to complete the nonet,” said Ryoku.

Zinzolin had resumed scrolling through his timeline on TurTwitter, because he wasn’t sure where Ryoku was going with his anecdote and wasn’t in the mood to kinkshame. He was also pleasantly surprised that Ryoku had found a nickname for Colress – Achroma. (Colress had only been with them for a couple of days, and this was saying a lot about him.) Clearing his throat and putting away his phone, Zinzolin said, “As I was saying, I’m not worried about N becoming corrupted from training. His heart is still innocent, carefree, and happy. Our fellow sage has a lot of sorrow and anger in his heart. Let’s not forget that his arm deformity happened shortly after he became widowed. We must protect them both, but especially N. Pure-hearted men like them are rare.”

“You know, I used to have my doubts in regards to Ghetsis’ pure heart,” said Gorm. “From what I remember him telling us and you reiterating, is that only corrupt people get deformed. His right eye became rather…draconic after he mastered Hyper Beam, long before he was widowed. But I also wondered why he needed to learn all of those moves in the first place. We each know around 8, not counting normal moves, and that’s enough.”

“He loved to train, as do I,” replied Giallo. “I wanted to learn more too and dreamed of learning at least one move from each of the 18 types. And yes, I know that is an impossible task since you become emotionless at or after 10 moves. I didn't believe the 10 move limit was possible until I noticed Ghetsis' personality changing. But I thought he took control of the change because after a while, he was nice again.”

“Understandable,” replied Gorm. “As for the arm, yes I remember those days. He got as emotional as he’s been these past few days and then it stopped. I guess I wanted to believe he had found peace. Not that he pushed himself further until he lost all emotions. If the 'niceness' he's shown us all these after learning all those moves was fake, he's one bloody hell of an actor!”

“Our leader is a disaster,” said Bronius, as he shook his head.

“Yes, but he’s _ our _ disaster and we love him, regardless,” replied Ryoku.

“True…” nodded Bronius.

The sages continued to joke and chat with each other until it was 11:00 pm, and they all decided to head to bed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>   * Lord Ghetsis Harmonia is completely unrelated to Violet Assassin's husband, Denis L'Harmonie. Any similarities are purely coincidental because Ghetsis has a monster eye and monster right arm, whereas Denis has a pair of normal human eyes and normal human arms. Ghetsis believes he's a dominant man who deserves to be king. Denis has clearly accepted that he's submissive and not meant to rule or be in control of anything, (after all, he's the cute trophy husband.)
>   * For the sake of "equality" in this narrative, men are objectified equally. This was also intended to show why Ghetsis was never viewed as a serious threat, only as a "nuisance." He is just cute and annoying. Foreigners who don't speak Unovan think he's ornamental and entertaining. N is aware of this, and wants to avoid being seen the same way as his father. (This is why he prefers his menacing presence.) Hostility, such as the ones the game's protagonists showed Team Plasma is understandable hate. But this other type of patronizing treatment is on the opposite side of the spectrum and is equally bad.
>   * Yeah that's right, the Lion Man is alive and [un]well. Besides, he doesn't start his own BS until like 2013 and in this story it's 2011. He's still in Kalos thinking up new ways to improve the LyPods, LyPads, and LyPhones that are out. (C'mon, Holocasters should've been called this. So I gotta take the artistic liberties here and call them what they are.)
>   * The concept of this Unovan Ninetales, is basically a mash-up of the Seven Sages, N, and Colress. Its body is black and white, like a tuxedo cat. The tails shaped like N's "ponytail" are a rainbow, and the Ninetails has a green tuft of hair on its head that looks like Ghetsis' fluffy locks, but the central cowlick encircles its head like Colress' blue cowlick. Its eyes are yellow, like Colress' eyes. The Vulpix is tuxedo but its hair tufts and tails are green. It also has yellow eyes.


	9. Mandatory Prep Time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> N and Ghetsis get ready for their interview. It's been a rough morning for both.

The next morning, Ghetsis had woken up early. As much as he hated to admit to it, this interview with the foreign journalists made him nervous. He wasn’t very fluent in the common tongue and had a heavy Unovan accent. Growing up, he remembered his family telling him that he didn’t need to waste his time learning other languages because he’s in Unova. He often wondered if this was one of the reasons he was drawn to his foreign exchange friends in college. He had hoped that they’d help him learn, which they did. Not wanting to repeat the same mistake his family made, Ghetsis encouraged his children to be multilingual, which they are and much more fluent than he’d ever be.

As he walked to the kitchen, he met up with Zinzolin. Zinzolin stopped and eyeballed Ghetsis before saying, "Ghetsis, you look as if you've crawled out from underneath a pyroar…" 

"What?!" cried Ghetsis, who immediately blushed. 

Zinzolin's eyes widened, he expected a dry, witty remark from his leader. Intrigued, Zinzolin continued, “It’s an old saying from Kalos. I mean, look at your hair; wild and untamed, much like your beauty.”

“It’s not the time, Zinzolin,” sighed Ghetsis.

“No one else is up at this hour, except us,” replied Zinzolin.

Ghetsis pointed with his right arm, “Then explain _ her _.”

Zinzolin squinted but saw nothing. He pulled out his pokédex, and it detected Rowlet, who had been observing them from the rafters. She turned her head and hooted at Zinzolin.

“She doesn’t count,” replied Zinzolin.

“Pokémon tell N stuff we’re not even aware about,” said Ghetsis. “Remember ‘Mean Look’? We must be careful around them, just like we’re careful around people. They’ll say things which are beyond our control.”

"I'm pretty sure N knows about us," said Zinzolin. "Just because he has his _ mannerisms _ doesn't make him oblivious. Though I can't say the same for Sage Ryoku. He still believes you're a virgin."

"Wh…,” gasped Ghetsis, “I got my wife pregnant three times; he's _ seen _ her!" He tried to figure out what else to say because he was shocked to learn that Ryoku would think of such a thing. "…Wait, what makes _ you _ so sure N knows about us?"

"He seems unusually protective when we interact, and doesn't act like this when you're with the others," replied Zinzolin.

Ghetsis frowned, remembering that yesterday N had suddenly brought up Zinzolin when he attempted to warn him about Hilbert.

"He knows we're lovers," said Zinzolin. "As they say, nothing can be kept in the dark. Sooner or later it will be exposed by the light. But I see nothing wrong with our love; we need each other to survive. The problem, of course, is letting everyone else know. And the more time that passes, the more awkward it'll be. We've been married for about 12 years, because of _ clerical perks _."

Zinzolin wanted to say more but he stopped. His intuition told him that his fellow sage would be the one who'd out them both. Now that Ghetsis seemed un-cursed, his left eye regained its natural expressiveness, making him very easy to read. Zinzolin didn't care if others knew, but Ghetsis did for some reason. He was always worried about others’ opinions about him, but then that’s the type of insecure sensitive man that Zinzolin prefered. 

When they entered the kitchen, they saw Anthea and Concordia making breakfast, along with their Gothitelle and Gardevoir. Upset, Ghetsis said to them, “My goddesses! What are you doing up at this hour? It’s too early.”

“Father, don’t you have an interview early this morning with some reporters from Hoenn?” asked Anthea.

“Yes, but that’s for me and N, not for you,” replied Ghetsis.

Zinzolin pulled out his phone and saw the calendar. “Wait a minute. Your interview is at 10:30 am.”

“That will give you time to eat and rest, before they arrive,” said Concordia.

“I appreciate the thought, but I’m fine, you don’t need to stress over me,” replied Ghetsis.

“You look scared, father,” replied Anthea.

“I’m _ fine _,” chuckled Ghetsis nervously, since he no longer had the emotionlessness that aided him with his cool façade.

Anthea and Concordia frowned, and resumed their work, as Zinzolin helped Ghetsis to a seat. Ghetsis pulled out a scrunchie from his pant pocket and tried to tie his hair back. Due to its monstrous deformity, his right hand lost most of its dexterity, which was unfortunate because Ghetsis was a right-handed man. Although it had been nearly 15 years since his whole arm mutated, he never got the hang of doing things with his left hand.

Gardevoir looked at Gothitelle and said, “The dad is in worse condition than I thought.”

“I told you, you should’ve specialized in Psychic moves!” said Gothitelle. “You would’ve seen this coming.”

“You know you like my Dazzling Gleam, don’t lie,” replied Gardevoir.

Gothitelle sighed and hurried to the toaster oven, turning it off before it rang since the waffles were done. Gothitelle decided to boil some chamomile tea, which caught Anthea’s attention. Anthea looked in the cabinet and pulled out a mug, rinsing it and setting it down on the counter.

Concordia hurried to serve her dad the waffles. Ghetsis looked at them, although they smelled delicious he had no appetite for them. It then dawned on him; he was probably nervous and he covered his face with his hands in shame.

Meanwhile, N had only been able to sleep for two hours. He woke up in a cold sweat, remembering that the interview Giallo mentioned wasn’t over the phone, it was in person because the journalists were going to visit them at the castle. Scared, N put on his socks and green Persians, and climbed out of the window. As he was climbing down the side of the castle, his Woobat approached him.

“Hey N, what’s up?” asked the Woobat.

“Nothing much,” said N. “I just wanted to relax outside before my interview with those reporters from Hoenn. They’re going to come to the castle.”

“Wouldn’t it be a better idea to just relax on the balcony instead of climbing down the castle?” asked Woobat. “Right now, it looks like you’re trying to run away and leave your dad to do the interview all by himself. From what I’ve been told, the people from Hoenn have an unusual accent that Unovans have a hard time understanding. Also, doesn’t your dad suck at speaking the language they use in Hoenn?”

“Yes, he does,” said N. “I’m already getting embarrassed thinking about what he could possibly say. Unovan colloquialisms don't translate well to the Common Tongue. As for this climb, I was just stretching.” N chuckled and climbed back up to the balcony as Woobat accompanied him. N grabbed a towel and lied down on the balcony floor. 

The Woobat sat next to his head and said, “From my Future Sight, these reporters act like those people you game with online. They have a cheerful laid back attitude, so they're approachable. However, they’re also trainers who will take any opportunity to battle. I'm sure this was their original intention for traveling abroad.”

N frowned, disappointed by the journalists. But he wasn't surprised; foreigners sometimes acted like savages, as did his fellow countrymen.

“You know what would be cool?” asked Woobat. “If you and your dad teamed up and battled their pokémon. Imagine the press' reaction, the battle would send shockwaves internationally.”

“If the pokémon won’t mind, I’d be up for it,” said N. “I don’t know about father. He only likes to battle our friends and the others who hang out here. He had a bad experience battling another trainer, when I was little, so I doubt he'd be interested.”

"Maybe he's changed his mind, like how he's finally decided not to bottle up his feelings anymore," said Woobat. "You still need to rest. Let me help." Woobat used Yawn on N. N sighed and yawned back, before he knew it, he was out cold.

Just then, Victini appeared and floated next to Woobat. Seeing N knocked out on the balcony floor, Victini said to Woobat, “Wouldn’t it have been better if you had guided N back to his bed and then used yawn on him there?”

Woobat paused. “You’re right, oops!”

Victini sighed. “Since it’s not raining, I guess it’s okay. But I don’t think that towel on the floor is comfortable. Get him a pillow.” Victini floated towards the door and opened it. Woobat flew inside and grabbed a body pillow. Victini’s eyes widened as Woobat placed it next to N’s back, since he was lying on his side. The pokémon watched over N, as he slept.

About an hour later, Serperior and Hydreigon entered N’s room. Seeing them outside, Victini floated over and opened the door. Both pokémon were annoyed and disturbed at seeing N on the floor.

“So this is the Great Unovan King?” scoffed Hydreigon. “Ugh, he’s nowhere near as _ dignified _ as my human.” His right head looked at Serperior and the central head added, “ _ Our _ human, who deserved to be king.”

“I thought, for the humans wanted their king to be able to speak to one of the Tao Trio,” said Victini. 

“Yes, I’m aware,” said Hydreigon. “That’s why I trained up my human as I did. I’ve heard that up to a certain point, when humans learn a lot of moves, they start becoming pokémon. Logically, I assumed, to speak to a dragon he had to become a dragon.”

Serperior narrowed his eyes. 

Victini facepalmed and said, “N isn’t a mutated human and he can speak to Reshiram just fine. There was no need to have done this to your human!”

“So?” asked Hydreigon. “What other pokémon can boast that their human is more like them? My human, I mean, me and Serperior’s human, believes that humans should be equal to us. For them to be equal, they should obviously be skilled in battle. Our human has learned a lot of moves; he’s both intelligent and skilled.”

“Victini is right,” said Serperior. 

“Excuse me?” asked Hydreigon.

“There was no need to have pushed our friend as far as he went,” said Serperior. “Yes, he’s the most powerful human here, but at what cost? Do you remember our youth, when I was a Snivy and you were a Deino? How he used to cuddle with us, play with us, and tuck us into bed. As time went on, those subtle gestures of affection decreased in frequency. I assumed it was because he was maturing, but it was the power he gained that made him grow cold. This was why his loving warmth was extinguished.”

Hydreigon’s six eyes widened and he chuckled nervously. He was conflicted, as much as he enjoyed batting on par with a human, he missed the days when his human spoiled him and the rest of the team. Hydreigon had noticed that his human was suddenly much weaker than usual, but he was also much more affectionate. The night before, he playfully pounced on Hydreigon and cuddled with him, something he hadn’t done in the past decade. It was a pleasant surprise that Hydreigon actually felt their friendship increase, as a result, which was unexpected because he thought they had maxed out.

“You make a good point,” said Hydreigon, “and here I was, planning to train him up again so he could be strong like he used to be.”

“We can still train N, right?” asked Woobat.

“I believe so,” said Victini. “I can tell that N is more powerful than his sire, but he has a long way to go. He’s still a baby. We might need to consult with Reshiram first. He’s been with other humans who have learned moves and can tell us for sure how far N can go to still be powerful but also retain his kind, gentle heart.”

Serperior rubbed Hydreigon’s back with his tail, since his friend was grumpy when he realized that his human was weaker than N. Serperior didn’t care, he loved his human regardless. He remembered the first time they met, at the professor’s lab. He had never seen a human so excited about choosing their first pokémon. He could tell in his eyes, that his trainer wanted to be his friend and that already set him above any of the other humans. Serperior felt bad for the Oshawott that was with him. The way the other trainer, a tall strong redhead boy, chose the Oshawott was too cold and calculating. This other boy had the intent to use his Oshawott as a tool for his personal gain, and Serperior pitied his fellow starter. Even to this day, he wondered what became of Oshawott.

As they looked at N, Reshiram flew to the balcony and saw the others standing around N. Reshiram shook his head and said to them, “I’ve spotted the reporters coming for the interview on the horizon. Get N ready now. Use Wake-Up Slap!”

“None of us know that move,” replied Hydreigon.

Woobat approached N and Licked him. The ghostly chill that N felt was enough to wake him up. Seeing Reshiram, N knew he had to get ready and darted inside. 

Unimpressed Hydreigon said to the others, “If you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go check on my human. He has his interview too.”

Victini opened the door and Hydreigon left with Serperior. Once they were gone, Victini shook his head and asked the others, “What’s up with those two? How are they both the same but different? You know what I mean?”

“I’ve heard that pokémon who’ve been with their trainers eventually pick up their trainers’ personalities,” said Reshiram. “This says a lot about N’s dad.”

“Yeah,” replied Woobat. “This means N’s dad is an entitled bratty asshole, who can act polite around others if he needs to.”

“You know, I didn’t want to word it as such but that’s _ exactly _ how I see him,” replied Reshiram. “This is why he’s unworthy to be king. N, on the other hand, is humble and willing to listen to everyone. Now that is someone who deserves to be ruling this region. Especially, since a king has the duty to serve his people, ruling justly in a way that will benefit the region as a whole. An entitled bratty asshole, as you put it, is incapable of ruling this way for long.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>   * I mock Ryoku because he didn't know if Ghetsis and N were father and son, despite the fact that N always seemed to refer to Ghetsis as "father". Here, since they're blood-related, it makes this paraphrased quote extra funny. 
>   * Alder's Oshawott is now a Samurott, and still with him to this day. He just doesn't battle with him that often. Their relationship had a rocky start, but eventually they became very close. I just think it's fascinating to think of these older trainers who still have their starters around and all the shit they've been through together.
>   * Poor Woobat, its description make it seem like they're a dumb species. N's Woobat is no different.
>   * Persians = Pumas
>   * Victini is here because N had mentioned that he rescued the legendary back in "[Get Sick](https://archiveofourown.org/works/20324326/chapters/48362083)" and due to this act, Victini helped Team Plasma win. Victini lives in the castle because of the free food and friendly pokémon around.
>   * Ghetsis' Hydreigon is an old spoiled brat. He can easily get frustrated if he doesn't get what he wants. I'm tempted to describe the rest of the team, but I didn't want to derail this fic. Perhaps for another time. I do know that Ghetsis' Bouffalant, in this AU, loves to be groomed (intended to complement Ghetsis' love for his own long beautiful hair.)


	10. Gabbing on TV

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> N and his father get interviewed by the foreign journalists. One thing is clear, the tides have turned...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A special shout-out to my other friend, [Cosmicat](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cosmicat/pseuds/Cosmicat), who suggested STARYUtube. TurTwitter and eBAYleaf were my ideas, but I'm not that versed in pokémon names. She's more of an expert than me. XD
> 
> And a special thank you to Cyber54Prime ([Tumblr](https://cyber54.tumblr.com/)/[Twitter](https://twitter.com/Cyber54prime)/[YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfdlBqJdF827DlDeHhe1x8Q)), who helped me translate the brief “Kalosian” dialogue in this chapter. :>

Once dressed in his black Team Skull outfit, that N had ordered on eBAYleaf out of pity, he hurried downstairs and met up with his father, who wore a black Team Plasma tracksuit. The other sages, who were dressed casually, were accompanying him. 

Ghetsis rolled his eye and asked N, “What are you wearing?”

“The dancer outfit from Alola I bought,” said N. “It’s comfortable.”

“You look like a delinquent,” said Ghetsis. “I saw some boys in Alola wearing that exact outfit. They were spray-painting their logo on the walls and posing like this.” Ghetsis struck a pose, which was the same pose the Team Skull grunts used in their 480p music videos they uploaded to STARYUtube. “At least you’re not wearing that bandanna, the hat, and the medallion.”

N had thought about wearing those, but he planned to use them with other outfits. As for the medallion, he thought he’d swap it out with his puzzle because he wanted to look like the type of bad boy who’d be into Shadow Games. N, at least, remembered to wear his crown.

One of the Shadows appeared and said to them, “There’s a pair of foreign reporters approaching the property.”

Ghetsis turned pale. “I thought this was supposed to be a phone interview.” He turned to Giallo and grabbed him by the collar, “You told me this was a phone interview!”

“I thought it was!” insisted Giallo. “Must’ve been so tired last night that I mixed it up with the conference call. I’m so sorry, my friend. You know I would never lie to you.”

The doorbell rang and a grunt answered it. Taking a deep breath, the Seven Sages and N, went to the front to meet them. There was no time for any of them to change into their ceremonial robes. Ghetsis was already panicking because he felt this would make a bad first impression for the foreign journalists. Another Shadow appeared and handed N a white shawl, to cover up his bare arms. N managed to equip it on time, because soon they were face to face with the foreign journalists – a brown-haired woman with short hair holding a microphone, and a black-haired cameraman.

“Good morning Lord Geechisu and King Natural,” said the female interviewer in Unovan, at least her attempt at it, “My name is Gabby and I’m with my cameraman, Ty. We have come from Hoenn to meet you.”

“Good morning!” said N happily, relieved that Woobat was right about them. N then proceeded to say something to them in the Common Tongue, but he spoke too quickly that Ghetsis didn’t understand what was said. Since the camera was rolling, Ghetsis was unable to ask his fellow sages for a quick translation. N then said in Unovan, “Would you like a tour of the castle or get this interview over with?”

Gabby signalled Ty to turn off the camera and whispered to him. Their dialect was so different that it made Ghetsis anxious. As a typical Unovan, he assumed that they were talking behind his back, except right in front of him. Zinzolin reached over and placed his hand on Ghetsis’ back, right at his waist, since his leader’s shoulder was too high to reach.

“We shall do the interview first,” said Gabby. “That’s the most important. Then, we can have the tour. I’m sure the people of Hoenn would love it! Travel segments are always popular.”

They walked down to a nearby room. There, the sages, the two Shadows, and the grunt who answered the door hurried to arrange the room as Ghetsis and N offered Gabby and Ty a seat. The third Shadow appeared and brought a cooler filled with various cold bottled drinks. He offered its contents to Gabby and Ty. Both of them took a Soda Pop.

N turned to them and asked, “Would you like something to eat?”

“Thanks but we ate before we came here,” replied Ty.

Ghetsis asked Zinzolin quietly, in Kalosian, “Quesqu`ils ont dit à N?”

It took a moment for Zinzolin to understand what Ghetsis said to him, since his Unovan accent was a bit heavy. Zinzolin whispered, "Il nous introduit au jounaliste. Il nous mentionne qu'il est le roi d'Unys et que vous etiez son père. Et que vous et le reste d'entre nous sommes les Sept Sages de Team Plasma, les administrateurs."

Zinzolin’s reply did nothing to calm Ghetsis. He was so nervous, he immediately forgot Kalosian as soon as he asked Zinzolin. Zinzolin and the others sensed that their leader’s distress but there was nothing they could do. Oddly, N was the least nervous and had resumed his small talk with the reporters. The six sages encouraged their leader to take a seat and sat next to him.

Since it was time, the interview was about to begin. Fortunately, N had requested Gabby to ask questions in Unovan, for his father. N told them that his father had been sick these past couple of days and hadn’t slept well.

The interview began moments later, Gabby who was eager to practice her Unovan, asked N, “King Natural, your public appearance has been sudden. The world hardly knew about you until a few weeks ago, when you spoke to Reshiram and the people voted to declare you king. Tell us, how has it been so far and what do you plan to do?”

“I’ve suffered emotional whiplash,” replied N. “Unlike my father, I’m not used to being in front of the public. I still have a lot to learn but feel as if I’m improving, albeit slowly. However, I’ve been quietly observing Unova these past couple of years, trying to figure out what could be done to better society for both pokémon and humans alike. After all, it’s been a few days since I’ve gotten elected, there is much to be done. Unova is the land of freedom and liberty. For this reason I feel it’s important to liberate pokémon since they are our equals. However, these past few days, I have come to realize that the healthcare system in Unova is very poor compared to the rest of the world. Medicines for humans are expensive and many people have resorted to using pokémon medicines on themselves and their loved ones. So for now, my focus will be on implementing a ‘universal healthcare’ here in Unova, like how it is in the rest of the world. I’m aware that this proposition isn’t a new idea, but it has been proposed in the past many times, and rejected. But I will strive my best to make it a reality.”

“Good,” replied Gabby. “I can see why the Unovan people had voted for you. But it’s well-known, abroad, that the Unovan royal family – the Harmonias, have always been humble royals. This tradition of humility was evident when we first walked into this ancient castle. Sure it’s imposing, but it’s also comfortable in a way that says people are living here. We saw a few pokémon wandering the hallway on our way to this room. Can you tell us what that’s all about?”

“Those are our friends,” chuckled N. “Either pokémon who willingly battle alongside us, or just other wild pokémon who have decided to live here at the castle. Sometimes it’s a mix of both. They come in, we befriend them, and they stay with us. There’s really no need to come into a wild environment and kidnap a pokémon from their home. Research has conclusively proven that pokémon _ want _ to live with us. This is how our relationship should be, but certain trainers insist on catching every pokémon they see because they want to ‘Collect them all’, and that’s where the problem begins.”

“Interesting,” said Gabby. “There’s been accusations for years that your organization, Team Plasma, has been stealing innocent people’s pokémon, and that they never see them again. As much as I agree with your noble sentiment, this part leaves us all a little iffy in regards to your true motives.”

Ghetsis widened his eye. He wanted to jump in and answer the question but he felt paralyzed with fear. The only thing he did was reach over with his right hand, that was covered with a glove, and hold Zinzolin’s hand tightly. Ryoku noticed the gesture and held Ghetsis’ left hand. Soon the other sages all joined in the hand holding. Fortunately, this was not caught on camera. Regardless, the support was comforting but it was bringing Ghetsis close to tears.

With a deadpan glare, N replied, “How is our organization, rescuing pokémon from cruel trainers, any different than these same cruel trainers coming to various wild environments and parks to kidnap innocent pokémon? For the most part, people have released their pokémon willingly after hearing the speeches my father used to make on the subject. The cruel trainers are trying to paint Team Plasma as the ‘regional villains’ all because we stand up to the truth behind their continued exploitation of pokémon for ‘sport’. This isn't counting the erroneous assumption that if a group has the word 'Team' in front of it, it's automatically 'bad'. By this logic, international trainer groups like Team Mystic, Team Instinct, and Team Valor, are as 'bad' as Team Plasma.”

Suddenly, Gabby turned to Ghetsis and asked him, “I’ve been informed that you, Lord Ghetsis, founded Team Plasma with your own hand. Why did you decide to create this organization? I’d also like to hear your opinion about its controversy.”

Thinking fast, Ghetsis uttered the first thing that came to mind, “I don’t like seeing pokémon getting hurt.” He failed to notice the tears running down his cheek. “I grew up seeing these beautiful creatures in and around the castle. However, due to custom, I was taken to the professor to pick my starter. I chose the Snivy because I could see it in his eyes that he _ wanted _ me to be his friend. You do not need to be able to talk to pokémon to feel this connection. Not to make this personal anecdote too long, but you could imagine my horror when I found out I had to make my Snivy battle against others. Tell me, what kind of cruel monster would want to hit an innocent pokémon? This broke my heart but also filled me with immense rage.”

N’s eyes widened. His father had indeed gone mad; throwing logic to the side, in exchange for a personal plea. But then again, he remembered that Reshiram once told him that Ghetsis’ dark draconic deformities reminded him of Zekrom, the Dragon of Ideals. Reshiram found it concerning because ideals were as dangerous as they were reckless, and such a person is not in the right state of mind to lead. N had tried to plead with Reshiram, telling him that his father shared his same beliefs but it was apparent that the beliefs were only similar and not the same. N maintained his cool, but this realization broke his heart. However, N couldn’t tell what was more painful – his father’s inherent idealism or his father embarrassing him in front of the camera by spewing “idealistic nonsense”.

“…As for the controversy,” continued Ghetsis, “the truth has many enemies. As my son – King N has said, there’s a lot of people out there who are uncomfortable with our desire to liberate pokémon. People love to talk and often there’s little truth to the talk, especially if it’s about someone whom you oppose. I’ve tried my best to ignore this drama and continued with my speeches that raised awareness of the need for pokémon liberation.”

“About your speeches, are you going to continue making them now that Team Plasma has won?” asked Gabby.

“I don’t know,” said Ghetsis. “I’ve had a lot to think about these past few days. With my victory, I feel there’s no need for me to travel throughout the region, as I’ve been doing these past few years. If a speech must be delivered, it can be broadcast. I might not look like it, but I’m not as young as I used to be and this recent flu-like cold I got was further proof of that. Besides, I feel I need to step aside and just let my son do the talking. We taught him well, and he’s not going to improve if he doesn’t try. I know he’s shy but to rule you need to set all that aside and focus on leadership. Being in charge of so many people, no longer makes it about yourself.”

N and the other sages were surprised at his statement. Although it was true and very reasonable, it was out of character, because Ghetsis relished in the spotlight. It appeared whatever happened in Alola may’ve changed him for the better, but it was still too early to tell. They continued the interview and gave the reporters from Hoenn a tour of the castle as promised. Comfortable, N took turns with his father, explaining the Harmonia’s rich history in Unova. N even talked about the pokémon they encountered along the way. Gabby and Ty found the tour so delightful that they forgot to challenge N and Ghetsis to a friendly battle. They were curious about the Harmonias being able to master several pokémon moves and have an in-born ability to tolerate learning more due to their innate connection with pokémon. But it seemed that the answers they received were satisfying enough not to warrant such “proof”.

Content, Gabby and Ty left the castle and decided to sight-see a bit to pad their interview with more travel filler. As soon as they were gone, Ghetsis let out a sigh of relief. He looked at his sages and said, “I’m so tired, I just want to sleep until next week.”

Just then, Woobat descended from the rafters and yawned at Ghetsis. Due to being so mutated, the yawn was Super Effective, and Ghetsis’ knees buckled, as he suddenly passed out. Fortunately, the sages and the Shadow Triad caught him, breaking his fall.

N looked at Woobat in disbelief. Woobat smiled at N, happy that he could help and flew away without saying a word. Annoyed, N took charge and ordered the others to take his father to his bedchamber, so he could sleep somewhere adequate.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>   * "Common Tongue" is Japanese, common because so far it seems to be the predominant language of 4 out of 8 pokémon regions. Just like "Kalosian" is French, and "Unovan" is implied to be American English.
>   * No one wants to buy Team Skull merch in this world. But let’s be honest, I’m sure the merch will sell like hot cakes IRL.
>   * Team Plasma admins’ outfit changes was intended to both humble everyone but also juxtapose their entire canonical portrayal. Sadly, this has greater impact if shown as an illustration than prose.
>   * N really thinks Team Skull is just an Alolan dance troupe. He’s subscribed to their channel. But he mostly keeps this a secret from his father, because one time Ghetsis heard their music and saw their dancing, and hated it. He hates it even more now because he sees them as “delinquents”.
>   * Ghetsis' Cofagrigus is absent in this interview because he's spending some time with his wife, now that her trainer, Sage Gorm, is at the castle. 
>   * Obviously, since this whole story is just Team Plasma's side of the fanfic, their dragon ally, Reshiram, is portrayed as the noble, heroic one. The truth is good, whereas ideals are foolish and can lead you down a path of corruption. (Realistically truth and idealism aren't opposites, but BW/BW2 has this dumb logic we gotta work with here.)

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading. 
> 
> **EDIT: 15th of August, 2020** Disabled the comments because this was intended to be a self-indulgent thing. XD
> 
> We now return to The Transformers. 🎼🎶


End file.
